Development and Demonstration of a Prototype Molten Salt Sampling System

Technical Report · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2025.2480982· OSTI ID:2324780

Harkema, Megan ^[1]; Krahn, Steve ^[1]; Marotta, Paul ^[1]; Burak, Adam ^[2]; Sun, Xiaodong ^[2]; Sabharwall, Piyush ^[3]

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1. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
2. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
3. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) offer potential operability and safety advantages compared to commercial light water reactors. However, operating experience with MSRs is sparse in comparison to what exists for LWRs. Further, the chemical and isotopic composition of the fuel and/or coolant salt is dynamic and still being characterized—posing potential safety, operability, and safeguards unknowns that need to be addressed. A molten salt sampling system (MSSS) is regarded as a necessary subsystem within first-generation MSRs used to remove grab samples of salt for chemical and isotopic analysis in support of the need to monitor and control salt composition during operation. The MSSS is being developed using the Safety in Design (SiD) methodology, which incorporates incremental integration of safety analysis into the design process. The MSSS conceptual design emerging from the application of the early stages of the SiD methodology consists of a sample collection system and its housing, a freeze port, and an inert gas control and a delivery system. This article describes the prototypes developed to test the functions of the above MSSS subsystems and provides a status update on the ongoing testing and reliability data collection activities being performed within the relevant testing environments in accordance with the principles of SiD.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 2324780
• Report Number(s): INL/CON--24-76292-Rev000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
Experimental Setup
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Molten salt sampling system
Nuclear Reactors
Reactor Safety in design
Reliability