The 10MW High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor-Test Module (HTR-10) is a graphite-moderated helium gas-cooled reactor. As the first gas-cooled reactor in China, construction of HTR-10 was started in 1995 with the completion of basic design and safety review. It reached its criticality in December 2000 and was operated in full power condition in January 2003. About 100 commissioning tests had been completed, and six safety demonstration experiments have been carried out since 2003.

In the design of HTR-10, advanced concept of newly developed modular high temperature reactors is assimilated. Its design features a compact side-by-side arrangement of the reactor and the steam generator, spherical fuel elements (6cm in diameter) with TRISO coated particles, continuous process of fuel loading and unloading, all-around computerized protection system and in-depth defense principles. A completely passive decay heat removal system and a surface cooling system are designed for HTR-10. Two reactor shutdown systems (the control rod system and the small absorber ball system) are located in the reactor side reflector,  making possible the automatic shutdown of the reactor under emergency conditions.

Based on HTR-10, the commercial demonstration power plant, HTR-PM, was put in the list of the National Science and Technology Key Projects in 2006. As HTR-PM entered commercial operation in 2023, China has become one of the leaders in HTR technology.