The General Department for Small Micro-Reactor Technology Research addresses the major national demand for long-duration, stable, and autonomous energy supply in special scenarios and key strategic fields. Anchored to the innovative direction of “liquid-metal micro reactors,” it shoulders the mission of overall technical research, organizes interdisciplinary, cross-departmental, and cross-institutional collaborative research, coordinates the establishment and improvement of an operational management system for implementing major tasks, integrates technical resources, strengthens system integration, and makes every effort to drive the micro reactor model from blueprint to engineering reality.

In its R&D layout, the General Department focuses on key directions such as reactor-scenario matching design, complex-spectrum core physics, lightweight shielding, liquid-metal thermal hydraulics, accident transient and safety analysis, and high-efficiency heat transfer and thermoelectric conversion. It systematically carries out core work including overall scheme design and demonstration, reactor core criticality physics experiments, and thermal-hydraulic and safety verification, striving to build a complete technical system and provide solid technical support for national special energy supply.

The main members of the General Department consist of PhDs from well-known universities at home and abroad and young core researchers. It has excellent software and hardware research conditions, including a self-developed neutronics analysis software platform, a natural circulation/forced circulation/mixed circulation liquid lead-bismuth loop cluster, and a large pool-type lead-bismuth reactor engineering integrated experimental facility. In recent years, it has led and undertaken more than 20 projects, including major engineering projects, Category A Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Deployment Projects of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Key R&D Program of China, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It has also led the formulation of multiple national standards for lead-based reactors.