Optimization of the Neutronics of the Advanced High Temperature Reactor

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:21021218

Zakova, Jitka; Talamo, Alberto ^[1]

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1. Department of Nuclear and Reactor Physics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Roslagstullsbacken 21, S-10691, Stockholm (Sweden)

In these studies, we have investigated the neutronic and safety performance of the Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR) for plutonium and uranium fuels and we extended the analysis to five different coolants. The AHTR is a graphite-moderated and molten salt-cooled high temperature reactor, which takes advantage of the TRISO particles technology for the fuel utilization. The conceptual design of the core, proposed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, aims to provide an alternative to helium as coolant of high-temperature reactors for industrial applications like hydrogen production. We evaluated the influence of the radial reflector on the criticality of the core for the uranium and plutonium fuels and we focused on the void coefficient of 5 different molten salts; since the safety of the reactor is enhanced also by the large and negative coefficient of temperature, we completed our investigation by observing the keff changes when the graphite temperature varies from 300 to 1800 K. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21021218
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
COOLANTS
CRITICALITY
DESIGN
GRAPHITE
HELIUM
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
MOLTEN SALTS
NUCLEAR FUELS
OPTIMIZATION
PERFORMANCE
PLUTONIUM
REACTOR SAFETY
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
URANIUM
VHTR REACTOR
VOID COEFFICIENT