Molten salt breeder reactor

Figure 5. Fuel processing flow sheets for (A) HTGR and (B) Molten salt breeder reactor. (After Ref. 8.)...

Pressurized- water reactor Boiling- water reactor Liquid-metal fast-breeder reactor Gas-cooled fast-breeder reactor Molten-salt breeder reactor ... 

Fuel processing operations for the molten-salt breeder reactor are simpler in principle than for the HTGR. As the conversion ratio is expected to be above unity, no fissile feed is needed... 

Bl. Bettis, E. S., and R. C. Robertson The Design and Performance Features of a Single-Fluid Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor, A uci Appl Tech. 8 190 (1970). 

The principal uses of ThF4 are as intermediate in the production of thorium metal or, potentially, as a compound in the fuel mixture of the molten-salt breeder reactor. For both applications anhydrous, oxide-free ThF4 is required. 

Rosenthal, M. W., P. N. Haubenreich, and R. B. Briggs, 1972, The Development Status of Molten Salt Breeder Reactors, ORNL-4812, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 

C. F. Baes, et al, Removal of Iodide From LiF-BeF2 Melts by HF-H2 Sparging - Application to Iodine Removal From Molten-Salt Breeder Reactor Fuel, Nuc. Sci. and Eng. 56(4), p. 399 (April 1975). 

Molten reactor designs have been configured within a wide range of concepts. Similar to gas-cooled reactors (pebble bed, prismatic. He, CO2, etc.) this variety can be a drawback as it can tend to spread effort and support. Early efforts examined both a breeder approach termed the molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR) and a burner approach termed the denatured MSR (DMSR) while currently there is also renewed interest in fast spectrum designs. The following sections attempt to show the varied potential as well as differentiating factors for a variety of MSR designs. 

McNess, L.E. Feb 1971. Engineering Development Studies for Molten Salt Breeder Reactor Processing, No. 2, ORNL-TM-3137. 

Robertson, R.C. et al. Aug 1970. Two-Fluid Molten Salt Breeder Reactor Design Study (Status as of Jan 1,1968), ORNL 4528. 

Scott, C.D. and Carter, WL. Jan 1966. Preliminary Design Study of a Continuous Fluorination-Vacuum-DistUlation System for Regeneration of Fuel and Fertile Streams in a Molten Salt Breeder Reactor, ORNL 3791. 

Shaw, M. Sep 1972. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission—An Evaluation of the Molten Salt Breeder Reactor. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, WASH 1222. 

Weinberg, A.M. et al. Feb 1970. Entire volume on Molten Salt Breeder Reactor. Nucl. App. Tech. 8,107-219. 

XXX-3] McNEESE, L.E., et al.. Program Plan for Development of Molten-salt Breeder Reactors, ORNL-5018, Oak Ridge, USA (1974). 

XXX-24] Molten Salt Breeder Reactor, Special Research Committee Report, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, (1981/4) (in Japanese). 

High-temperature, low-pressure molten-salt reactor coolants from the large aircraft nuclear propulsion program of the 1950s and the molten-salt breeder reactor program of the 1960s. 

The Molten Salt Breeder Reactor Program Further Developed Molten Salt Technology... 

Canadian CANDU heavy water reactor, and in a circulating fuel reactor designed to achieve thermal breeding, the molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR). 

Because of the small reactivity margin available for breeding in a thermal reactor, the use of the thorium cycle has mainly been associated with reactors with very good neutron economy based on low parasitic absorption, such as the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, where graphite is used in place of metal for the fuel cladding, or heavy water reactors, with very low moderator absorption. A special case is the molten salt breeder reactor, where circulation of the fissile and fertile materials allows continuous removal not only of Pa but also of fission products. 

These billion dollar programmes developed the technology base for use of liquid salts in nuclear systems. Two experimental reactors were built and successfully operated. The aircraft reactor experiment (ARE) was the first MSR. It was a 2.5 MW(th) reactor that was operated in 1954 at a peak temperature of 860°C and used a sodium-zirconium fluoride salt. This was followed in 1965 by the molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR) Experiment, an 8 MW(th) reactor that used a lithium-beryllium fluoride salt and demonstrated most of the key technologies for a power reactor. In addition, test loops with liquid salts were operated for hundreds of thousands of hours, materials of construction were code qualified to 750°C, and a detailed conceptual design of a 1000 MW(e) MSBR was developed. Over 1000 technical reports were produced. 

Bettis, E.S., Robertson, R.C., 1970. The design and performance features of a single-fluid molten salt breeder reactor. Nuclear Applications and Technology 8, 190—207. 

Figure 15.29 Pool-type Indian molten salt breeder reactor.

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