Fission Product Measurement and Off-Gas Scrubbing for Molten Salt Reactors

Bryan, Samuel A.; Delcul, Guillermo D.; Bull Ezell, Diana D.; Felmy, Heather M.; Lines, Amanda M.; McFarlane, Joanna; Myhre, Kristian; Riley, Brian J.

doi:10.13182/t30752

Title: Fission Product Measurement and Off-Gas Scrubbing for Molten Salt Reactors

Abstract

The Advanced Reactor Technology (ART) program within the US Department of Energy is developing understanding and technology to help facilitate molten salt reactor commercialization. The off-gas system for MSRs plays an important role in fission product confinement. The strategy used in MSRs is different from that used in pressurized water reactors, where the off-gas mainly mitigates severe accident conditions. Although the details vary depending on the reactor type, the off-gas system of MSRs must reduce radiological emissions to the environment to levels comparable with those mandated for non-MSRs. Systems with molten fuel salt will accumulate material in the headspace: volatile fission products, entrained salt particles, graphite fines, and material that has low solubility in the salt. Operators of thermal fluoride salt reactors with encapsulated fuel will also be concerned about tritium generation and migration. The fission and activation products include noble gases, their daughters, tritium, and aerosolized salt constituents. Their concentrations will generally increase with reactor burnup, depending on the various strategies used for mitigation. Additionally, tritium capture and removal has been reviewed by several groups.

Authors:

^[1]; Delcul, Guillermo D. ^[2]; Bull Ezell, Diana D. ^[2]; Felmy, Heather M. ^[1]; Lines, Amanda M. ^[1]; McFarlane, Joanna ^[2]; Myhre, Kristian ^[2];

^[1]

Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2019

Research Org.:: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1638077

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-149521
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-018X; TRN: US2201714

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 121; Journal Issue: 1; Conference: Transactions - 2019 Winter Meeting, Washington, DC (United States), 17-21 Nov 2019; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-018X

Publisher:: American Nuclear Society

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS

Citation Formats


                    Bryan, Samuel A., Delcul, Guillermo D., Bull Ezell, Diana D., Felmy, Heather M., Lines, Amanda M., McFarlane, Joanna, Myhre, Kristian, and Riley, Brian J. Fission Product Measurement and Off-Gas Scrubbing for Molten Salt Reactors.  United States: N. p., 2019. 
Web.  doi:10.13182/t30752.

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                    Bryan, Samuel A., Delcul, Guillermo D., Bull Ezell, Diana D., Felmy, Heather M., Lines, Amanda M., McFarlane, Joanna, Myhre, Kristian, & Riley, Brian J. Fission Product Measurement and Off-Gas Scrubbing for Molten Salt Reactors.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.13182/t30752

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                    Bryan, Samuel A., Delcul, Guillermo D., Bull Ezell, Diana D., Felmy, Heather M., Lines, Amanda M., McFarlane, Joanna, Myhre, Kristian, and Riley, Brian J. Thu .  
"Fission Product Measurement and Off-Gas Scrubbing for Molten Salt Reactors".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.13182/t30752.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1638077.

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@article{osti_1638077,

  title        = {Fission Product Measurement and Off-Gas Scrubbing for Molten Salt Reactors},

  author       = {Bryan, Samuel A. and Delcul, Guillermo D. and Bull Ezell, Diana D. and Felmy, Heather M. and Lines, Amanda M. and McFarlane, Joanna and Myhre, Kristian and Riley, Brian J.},

  abstractNote = {The Advanced Reactor Technology (ART) program within the US Department of Energy is developing understanding and technology to help facilitate molten salt reactor commercialization. The off-gas system for MSRs plays an important role in fission product confinement. The strategy used in MSRs is different from that used in pressurized water reactors, where the off-gas mainly mitigates severe accident conditions. Although the details vary depending on the reactor type, the off-gas system of MSRs must reduce radiological emissions to the environment to levels comparable with those mandated for non-MSRs. Systems with molten fuel salt will accumulate material in the headspace: volatile fission products, entrained salt particles, graphite fines, and material that has low solubility in the salt. Operators of thermal fluoride salt reactors with encapsulated fuel will also be concerned about tritium generation and migration. The fission and activation products include noble gases, their daughters, tritium, and aerosolized salt constituents. Their concentrations will generally increase with reactor burnup, depending on the various strategies used for mitigation. Additionally, tritium capture and removal has been reviewed by several groups.},

  doi          = {10.13182/t30752},

  journal      = {Transactions of the American Nuclear Society},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 121,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2019},

  month        = {Thu Nov 21 00:00:00 EST 2019}

}

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Fig. 1: Molten hydroxide scrubber apparatus.

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