The Generation IV International Forum (GIF) began in 2001 when 10 countries initiated collaboration on the development of a fourth generation of nuclear energy systems. Euratom (representing the EU) has also joined the GIF, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Over 100 potential nuclear reactor concepts, or “systems”, were reviewed by an international panel of experts. The panel selected the six reactor types that could best meet the Generation IV objectives of sustainability, economics, safety and reliability, and proliferation resistance and physical protection. Canada is participating in two systems that are the most natural evolution of current Canadian technology, the Supercritical-Water-Cooled Reactor (SCWR) and the Very-High-Temperature Reactor (VHTR).
Canada will participate in the GIF through the Canadian National Program on Generation IV Energy Technologies (The Gen IV National Program). It will bring together government, industry and universities from across the country through their participation in R&D focused on the multi-lateral development of advanced nuclear-based energy systems.
Generation IV International Forum (GIF) and U.S. DOE Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee, “A Technology Roadmap for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems”, December, 2002.