Whole core analysis of the single-fluid double-zone thorium molten salt reactor (SD-TMSR)

Ashraf, O.; Rykhlevskii, Andrei; Tikhomirov, G. V.; Huff, Kathryn D.

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2019.107115

Title: Whole core analysis of the single-fluid double-zone thorium molten salt reactor (SD-TMSR)

Journal Article · 18 October 2019 · Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.107115 · OSTI ID:1799128

Ashraf, O. ^[1];

^[2]; Tikhomirov, G. V. ^[3]; Huff, Kathryn D. ^[2]

National Research Nuclear Univ. MEPhI, Moscow (Russian Federation); Ain Shams Univ., Cairo (Egypt)
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
National Research Nuclear Univ. MEPhI, Moscow (Russian Federation)

The SD-TMSR (2,250 ${MW}_{th}$ ) is a Single-fluid Double-zone Thorium-based Molten Salt Reactor. The active core of the SD-TMSR is divided into the inner zone (486 fuel tubes) and the outer zone (522 fuel tubes) to improve the Th-U3 breeding performance. This work adopted the SERPENT-2 Monte Carlo code to analyze the whole core model of the SD-TMSR. Built-in SERPENT-2 capabilities simulated online reprocessing and refueling and calculated the multiplication factor and Breeding Ratio (BR). We found that the molten salt Temperature Coefficient of Reactivity $(α_{T}$ ) was negative for initial and equilibrium states. This study investigated the variation of the multiplication factor, BR, and build-up of important nuclides in the core as a function of burnup. Under online reprocessing and refueling, we studied the variation of the reactivity during 60 years of reactor operation. Additionally, the neutron spectrum shift during the reactor operation was calculated. Finally, these simulations determined the appropriate ²³²Th and ²³³U feed rates for maintaining criticality and enabled analysis of the overall SD-TMSR fuel cycle performance.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Grant/Contract Number:: AR0000983

OSTI ID:: 1799128

Journal Information:: Annals of Nuclear Energy (Oxford), Vol. 137; ISSN 0306-4549

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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