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MSR Transient Simulation and MSRE Transient Benchmark with SAM and SPECTRA

Journal Article · · Nuclear Technology
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  2. Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Petten (Netherlands)
+ Show Author Affiliations
In recent years, there has been renewed interest in molten salt reactors (MSRs) for their potential advantages compared to reactors that rely on solid fuel. In response to such interest, many methods and codes have been developed to capture the unique features of MSRs. Among them, SPECTRA and SAM are two system analysis codes that have been enhanced to include MSR-specific modeling capabilities, including delayed neutron precursor drift and modified point kinetics equations.This paper discusses the efforts taken to verify and validate these features. A standard MSR system test problem was developed to verify and demonstrate the capability of SPECTRA and SAM on the MSR transient simulation. Sixteen transients were simulated. Further, the results obtained from SPECTRA and SAM show good agreement. The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment transient experiments were reviewed and selected to validate the SPECTRA and SAM codes. The experiments included pump startup and coastdown tests at zero power, reactivity insertion tests at different power levels, frequency tests, and a natural convection test. The simulation results from SPECTRA and SAM show good agreement with the experimental data.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
2569784
Journal Information:
Nuclear Technology, Journal Name: Nuclear Technology; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN 1943-7471
Publisher:
Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (8)

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Correlating equations for laminar and turbulent free convection from a vertical plate journal November 1975
OpenMC: A state-of-the-art Monte Carlo code for research and development journal August 2015
MOOSE: A parallel computational framework for coupled systems of nonlinear equations journal October 2009
Molten salt modelling in SPECTRA applied to MSRE journal December 2021
A Geometric Multiscale modelling approach to the analysis of MSR plant dynamics journal August 2015
MSRE Design & Operations Report Part 1 Description of Reactor Design report January 1965
A Review of Molten Salt Reactor Multi-Physics Coupling Models and Development Prospects journal November 2022

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Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
Molten Salt Reactor Experiment
Molten salt reactor
SAM
SPECTRA
transient