Th-U Breeding Performances in an Optimized Molten Chloride Salt Fast Reactor

He, Liao-Yuan; Xia, Siyou; Chen, Jingen; Wu, Jianhui; Zou, Yang

doi:10.1080/00295639.2020.1798728

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[14][15][16] Transient simulations of LFMSRs using those multiphysics tools have been focused on the core domain only to assess whether such a design meets the safety criteria from maximum temperature of the fuel salt. 8,17 Recent LFMSR designs targeting near-term deployment adopt chloride-based salt because of its advantages in the economic utilization of the fissile materials 18 and cost-effective fuel fabrication using techniques like pyroprocessing. 8 Molten chloride salts are known to corrode metal alloys at elevated temperatures, 19 and flow and thermal conditions must be evaluated for structural longevity calculations in commercial applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informing Performance Metrics of Advanced I&C Systems for Liquid Fueled Fast Molten Salt Reactors

Jeong

Shirvan

Buric

2022

Nuclear Science and Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This work establishes a generic multiphysics tool for liquid-fueled molten salt reactors (LFMSRs) to select key installation locations and specify the expected operating temperature range for the development of advanced instrumentation and control systems, particularly distributed temperature sensors using fiber optics. A commercial computation fluid dynamics package (STAR-CCM+) is used to formulate a neutronics and thermal-hydraulic coupled solver, showing good agreement with a recent benchmark problem developed for evaluating the coupling methodology of neutronics and thermal hydraulics. The multiphysics model is then applied to the reference molten chloride salt fast reactor (MCFR) design under development by TerraPower based on publicly available information. The available twodimensional axisymmetric model for the reactor core is used for coupling calculations, and system component details are leveraged using the lumped method to complete the energy balance. The dynamic responses of the MCFR model are investigated during operational transients, such as unprotected loss-offlow and uniform perturbation scenarios. Maximum temperature and local temperature distributions are characterized during unprotected loss of flow and unprotected loss of heat sink events. The thermal responses of the fuel salt and core components are analyzed from induced perturbation of the system parameters, such as the flow rate and the heat sink capacity. The results motivate the use of continuous monitoring of the temperature variation in real time along the reflector region with the use of fiber optics to validate the multiphysics code to support a reactor's licensing basis, as well as to support the structural longevity and improve safety in LFMSRs.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Informing Performance Metrics of Advanced I&C Systems for Liquid Fueled Fast Molten Salt Reactors

Jeong

Shirvan

Buric

2022

Nuclear Science and Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Impacts of power density on the breeding performance of molten salt reactors

Chen

Zhang

Zou

et al. 2022

Intl J of Energy Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary A liquid‐fueled molten salt reactor (MSR) can be flexibly designed with a broad range of power density (PD) and neutron spectrum, both of which have a strong impact on the breeding performance of the fuel cycle. In this work, a thermal single fluid double‐zone Th‐based MSR (SD‐TMSR) and an improved molten salt fast reactor (IMSFR) with different PDs ranging from 40 to 300 MWth/m3 are introduced to evaluate the breeding performance. The results indicate that the breeding ratios for the pure Th‐U (BRTU) and the fissile fuel (BRfis) at equilibrium state are negatively correlated with PD. As the PD increases from 40 to 300 MWth/m3, the BRTU declines by about 9.2% and 5.6% in the SD‐TMSR and IMSFR, respectively, due to the decreases in the probability of the natural decay and extraction of 233Pa in its total vanishment and of the ratio of the 232Th capture rate to the 233U absorption rate. Meanwhile, the BRfis keeps about 6% lower than the BRTU in both the cores because of the larger absorption cross sections of 235U and 239Pu than the capture cross sections of their parent nuclides. Owing to the low capture‐to‐fission ratios of minor actinides (MAs) and the reduced absorption cross sections of fission products, the BRTU and BRfis in the IMSFR keep about 6% higher than those in the SD‐TMSR when PD varies from 40 to 300 MWth/m3. In addition, the net 233U production can achieve the highest value of 60.5 kg/year at 90 MWth/m3 in the SD‐TMSR, and it is 154.9 kg/year at 200 MWth/m3 in the IMSFR. Although the net 233U production in the IMSFR is higher than that in the SD‐TMSR, the doubling time (DT) keeps larger in the IMSFR with the increase of PD from 40 to 100 MWth/m3 due to its higher initial loading of fissile material. In addition, the highest net 233U production of 154.9 kg/year in the IMSFR with a PD of 200 MWth/m3 can be used as the igniting fissile fuel for the SD‐TMSR, in which the corresponding DT is as short as 8.3 years. In conclusion, to achieve a thorium breeding in MSRs with different neutron spectra, a small PD less than 150 MWth/m3 is preferred to achieve a positive breeding gain and a positive net 233U production in the SD‐TMSR, while a higher PD ranging from 150 to 200 MWth/m3 is more attractive to acquire a higher net 233U production of more than 146 kg/year and a shorter DT of less than 35 years in the IMSFR.

show abstract

Effect of reprocessing on neutrons of a molten chloride salt fast reactor

Cui

Chen

et al. 2023

NUCL SCI TECH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Due to their unique features, such as the inherent safety, simplified fuel cycle, and continuous on-line reprocessing, molten salt reactors (MSRs) are regarded as one of the six reference reactors in the Generation IV International Forum (GEN-IV). Molten chloride salt fast reactors (MCFRs) are a type of MSR. Compared to molten fluoride salt reactors (MFSRs), MCFRs have a higher solubility of heavy metal atoms, a harder neutron spectrum, lower accumulation of fission products (FPs), and better breeding and transmutation performance. Thus, MCFRs have been recognized as a type of MSR with great prospects for future development. However, as the most important feature for MSRs, the effect of different reprocessing modes on MCFRs must be researched in depth. As such, this study investigated the effect of different isotopes, especially FPs, on the neutronic performance of an MCFR, such as its breeding performance. Furthermore, the characteristics of the different reprocessing modes and MCFR rates were analyzed in terms of safety, radioactivity level, neutron economy, and breeding capacity. In the end, a reprocessing method suitable for MCFRs was determined through calculation and analysis, which provides a reference for the further research of MCFRs.

show abstract

Th-U Breeding Performances in an Optimized Molten Chloride Salt Fast Reactor

Cited by 9 publications

References 19 publications

Informing Performance Metrics of Advanced I&C Systems for Liquid Fueled Fast Molten Salt Reactors

Informing Performance Metrics of Advanced I&C Systems for Liquid Fueled Fast Molten Salt Reactors

Impacts of power density on the breeding performance of molten salt reactors

Effect of reprocessing on neutrons of a molten chloride salt fast reactor

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About