Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Fuel cycle and neutronic performance of a spectral shift molten salt reactor design

Journal Article · · Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford)
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Transatomic Power Corporation, Cambridge, MA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Here, the fuel cycle performance and core design of the Transatomic Power liquid-fueled molten salt reactor concept is analyzed. This advanced reactor concept uses configurable zirconium hydride moderator rod assemblies to shift the neutron spectrum in the core from intermediate at beginning of life to thermal at end of life. With a harder spectrum during the early years of reactor operation, this spectral shift design drives captures in fertile 238U. The converted fissile plutonium makes up over 50% of the fissile material in the fuel salt over the last half (~15 years) of reactor operation. A softer spectrum late in reactor life helps drive the fuel to a burnup of 90 GWd/MTU. Continuously changing physics necessitates time-dependent analyses resolved over long timescales (i.e., months to years), as this concept does not meet an equilibrium condition. The spectral shift and molten salt reactor material feeds and removals enable this concept to perform better in fuel cycle metrics, increasing resource utilization by more than 50% compared with a typical light water reactor (i.e., from ~0.6% to ~1%). Finally, these metrics are compared to similar fuel cycles using alternate technologies. Additional core design and analysis challenges associated with the spectral shift and use of molten salt reactor technology are identified and discussed.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1474667
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1582696
Journal Information:
Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford), Vol. 119; ISSN 0306-4549
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 18 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (17)

Materials considerations for molten salt accelerator-based plutonium conversion systems
  • DeVan, J. H.; DiStefano, J. R.; Eatherly, W. P.
  • The international conference on accelerator-driven transmutation technologies and applications, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.49122
conference January 1995
Sustainable thorium nuclear fuel cycles: A comparison of intermediate and fast neutron spectrum systems journal August 2015
Perspectives on radiation effects in nickel-base alloys for applications in advanced reactors journal July 2009
A comparison between spectral shift control methods for light water reactors journal January 1980
SCALE 6: Comprehensive Nuclear Safety Analysis Code System journal May 2011
Modified Fuel Assembly Design for Pressurized Water Reactors with Improved Fuel Utilization journal August 1983
Heat deposition analysis for the High Flux Isotope Reactor’s HEU and LEU core models journal October 2017
The Spectral Shift Control Reactor as an option for much improved uranium utilisation in single-batch SMRs journal December 2016
Preconceptual design of a fluoride high temperature salt-cooled engineering demonstration reactor: Motivation and overview journal September 2017
Isotopic Depletion and Decay Methods and Analysis Capabilities in SCALE journal May 2011
Combination of Two Spectral Shift Control Methods for Pressurized Water Reactors with Improved Power Utilization journal October 1984
Molten salt reactor neutronics and fuel cycle modeling and simulation with SCALE journal March 2017
Liquid Fuel Molten Salt Reactors for Thorium Utilization journal May 2016
Experience with the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment journal February 1970
ENDF/B-VII.1 Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Cross Sections, Covariances, Fission Product Yields and Decay Data journal December 2011
Reactor Physics Methods and Analysis Capabilities in SCALE journal May 2011
Preconceptual design of a fluoride high temperature salt-cooled engineering demonstration reactor: Core design and safety analysis journal May 2017

Figures / Tables (34)

Figure 1(p. 9)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 9)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 10)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 11)figure Figure 4
Table 1(p. 12)table Table 1
Table 2(p. 13)table Table 2
Figure 5(p. 14)figure Figure 5
Figure 6(p. 15)figure Figure 6
Figure 7(p. 16)figure Figure 7
Figure 8(p. 17)figure Figure 8
Figure 9(p. 18)figure Figure 9
Figure 10(p. 19)figure Figure 10
Figure 11(p. 19)figure Figure 11
Figure 12(p. 20)figure Figure 12
Figure 13(p. 21)figure Figure 13
Table 3(p. 21)table Table 3
Table 4(p. 23)table Table 4
Table 5(p. 25)table Table 5
Figure 14(p. 26)figure Figure 14
Figure 15(p. 27)figure Figure 15
Figure 16(p. 27)figure Figure 16
Figure 17(p. 28)figure Figure 17
Figure 18(p. 28)figure Figure 18
Figure 19(p. 29)figure Figure 19
Figure 20(p. 30)figure Figure 20
Figure 21(p. 31)figure Figure 21
Figure 22(p. 31)figure Figure 22
Table 6(p. 33)table Table 6
Figure 23(p. 34)figure Figure 23
Figure 24(p. 35)figure Figure 24
Figure 25(p. 35)figure Figure 25
Table 7(p. 36)table Table 7
Table 8(p. 37)table Table 8
Figure 26(p. 38)figure Figure 26

Similar Records

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
molten salt reactor
fuel cycle
spectral shift
zirconium hydride