Molten salt fast reactor with U–Pu fuel cycle

Degtyarev, A. M.; Myasnikov, A. A.; Ponomarev, L. I.

doi:10.1016/j.pnucene.2014.07.014

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The author is particularly interested in the fuel system consisting of NaF-KF-UF 4 and NaF-KF-PuF 3 which do not contain enriched 7 LiF for economic as well as technological reasons associated with tritium control and irradiation defects after being solidified. If there might be a particular reason to contain LiF in the fuel, it is decreasing viscosity.…”

Section: Alternative Choice To Prepare the Liquid Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…required inventory as shown in Table 6. We have learned that the reported work [7] have applied density of the fuel salt as 5.32 g/cc at 680°C derived from the weighted average process of molecular volume for 0.704 (FLiNaK)-0.21UF 4 -0.067PuF 3 -0.0045MaF 3 -0.014FP [20], while it was 3.86 g/cc according to our procedure. Table 4.…”

Section: Effect Of Density On Conversion Of Inventories To Concentratmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Neutronic calculations were made taking originally proposed configurations of the reactor (core height/radius ratio, 1.85; core volume, 21.2 m 3 ; primary circuit volume, 31.8 m 3 ) and the power output (3.2GW th ) the same as Ref. [7], but other factors, such as the actinide isotopic composition (45,000MWD/t-U in BWR, 5 years cooling), neutron leakage (with 30 cm steel reflector), the fuel temperature (627°C), the salt cleanup and makeup condition, etc., were discretely specified to give verified number of heavy element masses and concentrations in the fuel salt to give designated reactivity (k eff = 1.007) from the start up to the equilibrium state (40 years).…”

Section: Effect Of U Inventory On Reactor Physical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the predicted solubility data from thermodynamic calculations [2], recently actualized high solubility data of various fluorides of actinides and lanthanides specifically in the LiF-NaF-KF eutectic mixture (traditionally named as FLiNaK) [3][4][5][6] reportedly could allow utilizing the high enough energy neutrons for the U-Pu breeding cycle aided by a high heavy element inventory (2.8 t/m 3 ) and a small neutron moderating capability [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was reported that a system nominated as a 3.2 GWt U-Pu fast-spectrum molten salt reactor (U-Pu FMSR) of 21.2 m 3 core volume (31.8 m 3 total primary system volume) starting from 68.5 tons of uranium with 15 tons of plutonium solving in FLiNaK to reach an equilibrium state after 10 years with an online chemical processing in which the conversion ratio (CR) became positive with inventory of 68.6 tons uranium, 20.9 tons plutonium, and 1.4 tons miner actinides did not need fissile material in feeding and consumed 238 U only [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fast-Spectrum Fluoride Molten Salt Reactor (FFMSR) with Ultimately Reduced Radiotoxicity of Nuclear Wastes

Hirose¹

2021

Nuclear Power Plants - The Processes From the Cradle to the Grave

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A mixture of NaF-KF-UF 4 eutectic and NaF-KF-TRUF 3 eutectic containing heavy elements as much as 2.8 g/cc makes a fast-spectrum molten salt reactor based upon the U-Pu cycle available without a blanket. It does not object breeding but a stable operation without fissile makeup under practical contingencies. It is highly integrated with online dry chemical processes based on "selective oxide precipitation" to create a U-Pu cycle to provide as low as 0.01% leakage of TRU and nominated as the FFMSR. This certifies that the radiotoxicity of HLW for 1500 effective full power days (EFPD) operation can be equivalent to 405 tons of depleted uranium after 500 years cooling without Partition and Transmutation (P&T). A certain amount of U-TRU mixture recovered from LWR spent fuel is loaded after the initial criticality until U-Pu equilibrium but the fixed amount of 238 U only thereafter. The TRU inventory in an FFMSR stays at an equilibrium perpetually. Accumulation of spent fuel of an LWR for 55 years should afford to start up the identical thermal capacity of FFMSR and to keep operation hypothetically until running out of 238 U. Full deployment of the FFMSR should make the entire fuel cycle infrastructures needless except the HLW disposal site.Keywords: fast-spectrum fluoride molten salt reactor, high-level radioactive waste, structure of fuel salt, density of fuel salt, redox potential control, freezing behavior of fuel salt, selective oxide precipitation process, front-end processing dedicated to the MOX spent fuel, nuclear fuel cycle and associated wastes

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Section: Alternative Choice To Prepare the Liquid Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effect Of Density On Conversion Of Inventories To Concentratmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Effect Of U Inventory On Reactor Physical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Fast-Spectrum Fluoride Molten Salt Reactor (FFMSR) with Ultimately Reduced Radiotoxicity of Nuclear Wastes

Hirose¹

2021

Nuclear Power Plants - The Processes From the Cradle to the Grave

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Parametric study on minor actinides transmutation in a graphite‐moderated thorium‐based molten salt reactors

Zou

et al. 2021

Int J Energy Res

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Summary Transmutation of minor actinides (MAs) is an effective solution to reduce the long‐term radiotoxicity of nuclear waste. Online refueling and no fuel rod fabrication in thorium‐based molten salt reactors (TMSR) are two remarkable advantages of MA transmutation. However, MA solubility limit of the fuel salt and the neutron spectrum in the core are two key parameters that have a strong impact on MA transmutation capability. In this paper, three types of carrier salt with different MA solubility limits and various salt volume fractions (SVFs) are introduced in a TMSR core to evaluate the MA transmutation characteristics. The results indicate that the Flibe salt with the best neutron economy can obtain the highest MA transmutation rate (TR), while the Flinak salt with the largest MA inventory can achieve the highest specific MA transmutation consumption (STC). STC and TR for the case with the Flibe salt and 5% SVF are about 200 kg/GWth.yr and 82%, respectively, which indicates that it can consume the annual MA yields from about 3.37 typical pressurized water reactors (PWRs). Meanwhile, the STC and TR for the case with the Flinak salt and 40% SVF are about 366 kg/GWth.yr and 75%, respectively, which indicates that it can consume the annual MA yields from about 50 typical PWRs. In addition, the total radiotoxicity of MAs after 50‐year operation in TMSR can be lowered by as high as about 50%. The significant production of Pu isotopes can be reused as nuclear fuel in fast reactors. In particular, Pu‐238, with the mass fraction of more than 60% in Pu isotopes, is a useful material for many nuclear applications. In conclusion, it is feasible to transmute MAs in TMSR and thus achieve the goals of reduction of MA's long‐term radioactive hazards.

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Potential of transuranics transmutation in a thorium‐based chloride salt fast reactor

Cui

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

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A thorium-based chloride salt fast reactor (TCLFR) for transuranics (TRUs) transmutation is proposed to decrease radioactive nuclear waste. The TCLFR core uses two types of fuel: liquid nuclear fuel with TRUs and thorium being dissolved in chloride and solid transmutation rod with only TRUs fuel. The transmutation capability of TCLFR with a core power of 2500 MWth is investigated utilizing three different reactor core configurations, namely ThCore, GdCore, and TcCore, and compared to the standard Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFR) while maintaining most of the geometric parameters. Important burnup parameters such as transmutation rate (TRE) and transmutation ratio (TRO) are extracted and analyzed. Besides, the neutron spectrum shift and the relevant safety parameters, including power peak factor, temperature coefficient of reactivity (TCR) and effective delayed neutron fraction (β eff ) are all explored. The results demonstrate that all the TCLFR cores can transmute TRUs effectively. TRUs have a high online refueling amount of TRUs in TcCore and GdCore due to their low conversion ratio (CR). The TRE in the TcCore and GdCore is 292.77 kg/GWth/year and 258.31 kg/GWth/year, respectively, which is significantly higher than the TRE in the MCFR, which is 171.21 kg/GWth/year. As a result of the production of U-233 compensates for the consumption of TRUs, the refueling amount of TRUs decreases, and the TRE in the ThCore is only 96.29 kg/GWth/year, which is approximately 44% lower than that in the MCFR.

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Molten salt fast reactor with U–Pu fuel cycle

Cited by 21 publications

References 14 publications

Fast-Spectrum Fluoride Molten Salt Reactor (FFMSR) with Ultimately Reduced Radiotoxicity of Nuclear Wastes

Fast-Spectrum Fluoride Molten Salt Reactor (FFMSR) with Ultimately Reduced Radiotoxicity of Nuclear Wastes

Parametric study on minor actinides transmutation in a graphite‐moderated thorium‐based molten salt reactors

Potential of transuranics transmutation in a thorium‐based chloride salt fast reactor

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