THE PHYSICS OF THE FUSED-SALT REACTOR EXPERIMENT

Technical Report · Fri Feb 22 04:00:00 EST 1957

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4339541· OSTI ID:4339541

Ergen, W K

In 1954 the Oak Ridge Nationai Laboratory operated, for demonstration purposes, a high-temperature circulatingfuel reactor, employing as fuel enriched uranium fluoride dissolved in molten fluorides of other cations. A BeO moderator was used. At a maximum power of 2.5 Mw, 100 Mw hr were obtained. A negative temperature coefficient resulting largely from fuel expansion yielded exceptional stability of the reactor, and made the reactor a slave of the power demand. Xe/ sup 135/ and some of the other fission fragments are not retained in the fuel; hence, there is no xenon poisoning and relatively little danger of spreading of gaseous fission fragments in case of an accident. The advantages of liquid-fuel reactors (elimination of radiation dnmage and thermal stresses in solid fuel elements, ease of fabrication and fuel reprocessing) are combined with low pressures at very high temperatures. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-12-009398
• OSTI ID: 4339541
• Report Number(s): CF-57-2-130
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACCIDENTS
BERYLLIUM MODERATOR
BERYLLIUM OXIDES
CONTAMINATION
ENRICHMENT
EXPANSION
FABRICATION
FISSION PRODUCTS
FLUID FLOW
FLUORIDES
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUELS
FUSED SALT FUEL
GASES
HIGH TEMPERATURE
MIXING
PHYSICS
POWER
PRESSURE
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTORS
REPROCESSING
SOLIDS
SOLUTIONS
STABILITY
TEMPERATURE
THERMAL STRESSES
URANIUM FLUORIDES
XENON 135