Sodium Fast Reactors GIF System Steering Committee
The Sodium Fast Reactor System Steering Committee (SFR SSC) was formed following the signing of the SFR System Arrangement in 2006. Currently, eight members of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) are engaged in the activities of the SFR SSC. This committee supervises five projects encompassing a wide array of subjects pertaining to Sodium Fast Reactors. Until recently, the SFR System was the sole system with commercially operating reactors globally. However, the VHTR system has now entered this group with the HTR-PM commencing commercial operations in 2023.
Activities and Membership of the Sodium Fast Reactors GIF System Steering Committee
GIF SFR SSC gathers eight GIF Members. It oversees five R&D cooperation projects. It is to be noted that it is under the SFR System that the first GIF Project Arrangement was signed in 2007 on Advanced Fuel for the SFR System.
SFR Projects
| Project Arrangement | Project Description | Effective Date | SIGNATORIES
(GIF Member) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Fuel (AF) | Fuel-related research aims towards developing high burnup minor-actinide (neptunium, americium, curium) bearing fuels as well as claddings and wrappers capable of withstanding high neutron doses and temperatures. It includes research on remote fuel fabrication techniques for fuels that contain minor actinides and possibly traces of fission products, as well as performance under irradiation of fuels, claddings and wrappers. | 2007 | CIAE (CN) |
| System Integration and Assessment (SIA) | The objectives of the SIA project are to: review and integrate the Generation-IV R&D results from a system design perspective in order to help define and refine requirements for the overall SFR concept R&D; review and integrate results from the R&D projects in order to ensure consistency; and periodically assess the system options and design tracks for conformance with the GIF technology goals and other SFR-specific requirements. | 2015 | CIAE (CN) |
| Global Actinide Cycle International Demonstration (GACID) - Expired | Collaborative R&D activities have been initiated with the objective of demonstrating, on a significant scale, that fast reactors can indeed manage the actinide inventory to satisfy the Generation IV criteria of safety, economy, sustainability, proliferation resistance and physical protection. The project consists of: MA-bearing test-fuel fabrication, material properties measurements, irradiation behaviour modelling, and pinscale irradiations in Joyo; licensing and fuel assembly irradiation tests in Monju; and post-irradiation examination, as well as transportation of MA raw materials and MA-bearing test fuels. | 2007 | CEA (FR) |
| Component Design and Balance-of-plant (CD&BOP) - Extended | Research on component design and balance of plant has the objective of enhancing SFR system performance in order to reduce the capital cost per unit electrical power and the cost of electricity generation. Primary research and development activities include work on: advanced components and technologies to enhance the economic competitiveness of the plant, development of advanced in-service inspection instrumentation and repair methods using different approaches and technologies. | 2007 | CEA (FR) |
| Safety & Operation (SO) | In the field of safety, experiments and analytical model developments are being performed to address both passive safety and severe accident prevention and mitigation. Options for safety system architecture are also being investigated. This R&D covers reactor operation, inspection, maintenance and technology testing campaigns in existing SFRs. | 2009 | CIAE (CN) |
If you want to learn more about the Sodium Fast Reactor technology head to the SFR System description page. If you want to learn more about the latest outcomes and international efforts carried out under the GIF SFR SSC please refer to the latest GIF Annual Report.
SFR SSC Leadership & Technical Secretariat
Dr
Bo FENG
Bo Feng was elected Chair of the GIF SFR System Steering Committee for the period 2024-2026. Since 2022, he has been the US member in the GIF SFR System Steering Committee and System Integration & Assessment Project Management Board. Outside of GIF, Mr. Feng is the manager of the Reactor and Fuel Cycle Analysis Group at Argonne National Laboratory and serves as the National Technical Director of the Fast Reactor Program for the Office of Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. Throughout his career, his research has focused primarily on reactor physics analysis, advanced reactor core design, radiation transport, and fuel cycle systems modeling.
Dr
Fabienne DELAGE
GIF SFR SO-PMB Chair for year 2024 and GIF SFR SSC co-chair for 2024-2026.
French representative in GIF SFR AF-PMB between 2006 and 2016 (chair in 2010 and 2014) and in GIF SFR SO-PMB, SIA-PMB and SSC since September 2023.
Outside of GIF, R&D Project Manager of SFR core physics, design and simulation at CEA- Cadarache since September 2023. Engineer and PhD in Material Science. Background of ~ 30 years in R&D, covering nuclear waste-form management for legacy and future wastes, Am- and Pu- bearing fuel behaviour investigation including irradiation test management in HFR and PHENIX reactors. Involved in international cooperations: coordinator of FP7-PELGRIMM and domains for FP6-EUROTRANS, FP7-FAIRFUELS; French representative for the OECD/NEA Halden Reactor Project (2016-2020). Head of the Laboratory of Fuel Expertise and Performance Code Validation (2016- 2020). Nuclear Counsellor at the French Embassy in Japan from 2020 to 2023.
Dr
Yoshitaka CHIKAZAWA
Dr. Yoshitaka Chikazawa completed his Ph. D. in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 2001.
Following his PhD graduation in 2001, he joined the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC) which is the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) where he worked for fast reactor system design.
He is currently the Deputy Director of the JAEA Fast Reactor Cycle System Project Management Office.
Dr
Kazuya OHGAMA
Kazuya Ohgama joined the GIF Technical Secretariat in 2023. He serves as the Technical Secretary for SFR Steering Committee, SFR Project Management Boards on Component Design and Balance-of-plant, System Integration and Assessment, Safety and Operation, and Advanced Fuel, and LFR Provisional Steering Committee. As of October 2024 he serves as the acting TS for the Senior Industry Advisory Panel (SIAP).
After obtaining his Ph.D in engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, he entered Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), where he worked as Principal Research Engineer in charge of evaluation of core physics tests conducted in the prototype fast reactor Monju and a U.S.-Japan bilateral cooperation for metal fuel SFR core neutronics design and benchmark study.