Reactor Controllability of 3-Region-Core Molten Salt Reactor System - A Study on Load Following Capability
- Toyohashi University of Technology, 1-1, Hibarigaoka, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi-shi Aichi, 4418580 (Japan)
The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) systems are liquid-fueled reactors that can be used for actinide burning, production of electricity, production of hydrogen, and production of fissile fuels (breeding). Thorium (Th) and uranium-233 ({sup 233}U) are fertile and fissile of the MSR systems, and dissolved in a high-temperature molten fluoride salt (fuel salt) with a very high boiling temperature (up to 1650 K), that is both the reactor nuclear fuel and the coolant. The MSR system is one of the six advanced reactor concepts identified by the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) as a candidate for cooperative development. In the MSR system, fuel salt flows through a fuel duct constructed around a reactor core and fuel channel of a graphite moderator accompanied by fission reaction and heat generation, and flows out to an external-loop system consisted of a heat exchanger and a circulation pump. Due to the motion of fuel salt, delayed neutron precursors that are one of the source of neutron production make to change their position between the fission reaction and neutron emission events and decay even occur in the external loop system. Hence the reactivity and effective delayed neutron precursor fraction of the MSR system are lower than those of solid fuel reactor systems such as Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) and Pressurised Water Reactor (PWRs). Since all of the presently operating nuclear power reactors utilize solid fuel, little attention had been paid to the MSR analysis of the reactivity loss and reactor characteristics change caused by the fuel salt circulation. Sides et al. and Shimazu et al. developed MSR analytical models based on the point reactor kinetics model to consider the effect of fuel salt flow. Their models represented a reactor as having six zones for fuel salt and three zones for the graphite moderator. Since their models employed the point reactor kinetics model and the rough temperature approximation, their results were not sufficiently accurate to consider the effect of fuel salt flow. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- The ASME Foundation, Inc., Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 20995580
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 14. international conference on nuclear engineering (ICONE 14), Miami, FL (United States), 17-20 Jul 2006; Other Information: Country of input: France
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
BREEDING
BWR TYPE REACTORS
DELAYED NEUTRON PRECURSORS
GRAPHITE
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HYDROGEN
MOLTEN SALT REACTORS
MOLTEN SALTS
NEUTRON EMISSION
NEUTRONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTIVITY
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR KINETICS
SOLID FUELS
THORIUM
URANIUM 233