Recently, the 2024 International Nuclear Graphite Specialists Meeting (INGSM) was held at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Shen was invited to deliver an online keynote speech titled "HTR and Nuclear Graphite Development in China", introducing the research and development status of nuclear-grade graphite for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors in China. The INGSM is hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency and represents the highest-level international conference in the field of nuclear-grade graphite. The keynote session was chaired by Dr. William Windes, the head of the nuclear graphite project at the Idaho National Laboratory in the United States. Professor Shen from Hunan University in China, James Reed, the group leader of graphite at EDF in France, Dr. Gerhard Strydom, the national technical director of gas-cooled reactors at the Idaho National Laboratory in the United States, and Dr. Raj Iyenger, the director of the Reactor Engineering Division of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, successively presented overviews of the development and prospects of nuclear graphite in China, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the domestic regulatory situation of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

   Professor Shen's report pointed out that nuclear-grade graphite is a key structural material for the core of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. With the promotion of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power plants, nuclear-grade graphite has emerged as a significant national requirement. The HTR-10 employs non-nuclear-grade IG-11 graphite from Toyo Carbon in Japan, while the HTR-PM demonstration project utilizes IG-110 nuclear-grade graphite from Toyo Carbon. The HTR-PM600 will employ domestic nuclear-grade graphite, and domestic carbon enterprises are currently engaged in the localization and irradiation testing of nuclear graphite. The nuclear-grade graphite research team at Hunan University has conducted extensive fundamental research in areas such as the preparation theory of graphite materials, purification mechanisms, structural characterization, and radiation effects. They have developed a new type of nuclear-grade graphite with a microcrystalline structure and a low coefficient of thermal expansion. The coefficient of thermal expansion is 30% lower than that of imported nuclear graphite, and the product has been industrialized and won a bid for an engineering application project of China National Nuclear Corporation.