Strategies for thorium fuel cycle transition in the SD-TMSR

Ashraf, O.; Rykhlevskii, Andrei; Tikhomirov, G. V.; Huff, Kathryn D.

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107656

Strategies for thorium fuel cycle transition in the SD-TMSR

Journal Article · Tue Jul 14 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Annals of Nuclear Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107656· OSTI ID:1848328

Ashraf, O. ^[1]; ^[2]; Tikhomirov, G. V. ^[3]; Huff, Kathryn D. ^[2]

National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI", Moscow (Russian Federation). Inst. of Nuclear Physics and Engineering. Dept. of Theoretical and Experimental Physics of Nuclear Reactors; Ain Shams Univ., Cairo (Egypt). Faculty of Education. Physics Dept.; National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI", Moscow (Russian Federation)
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering
National Research Nuclear University "MEPhI", Moscow (Russian Federation). Inst. of Nuclear Physics and Engineering. Dept. of Theoretical and Experimental Physics of Nuclear Reactors

Liquid-fueled Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) systems represent advances in safety, economics, and sustainability. The MSR has been designed to operate with a Th/²³³U fuel cycle with ²³³U used as startup fissile material. Since ²³³U does not exist in nature, we must examine other available fissile materials to start up these reactor concepts. This work investigates the fuel cycle and neutronics performance of the Single-fluid Double-zone Thorium-based Molten Salt Reactor (SD-TMSR) with different fissile material loadings at startup: High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) (19.79%), Pu mixed with HALEU (19.79%), reactor-grade Pu (a mixture of Pu isotopes chemically extracted from Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) with 33 GW d/tHM burnup), transuranic elements (TRU) from Light Water Reactor (LWR) SNF, and ²³³U. The MSR burnup routine provided by SERPENT-2 is used to simulate the online reprocessing and refueling in the SD-TMSR. The effective multiplication factor, fuel salt composition evolution, and net production of ²³³U are studied in the present work. Additionally, the neutron spectrum shift during the reactor operation is calculated. The results show that the continuous flow of reactorgrade Pu helps transition to the thorium fuel cycle within a relatively short time (≈ 4.5 years) compared to 26 years for ²³³U startup fuel. Finally, using TRU as the initial fuel materials offers the possibility of operating the SD-TMSR for an extended period of time (≈ 40 years) without any external feed of ²³³U.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Grant/Contract Number:: AR0000983

OSTI ID:: 1848328

Journal Information:: Annals of Nuclear Energy, Journal Name: Annals of Nuclear Energy Journal Issue: C Vol. 148; ISSN 0306-4549

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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