Molten-salt reactor internally cooled

Although the lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) is not dealt with in this part, it is also a promising advanced FR and will be introduced in the second part by Prof. Adamov. In addition, several topics of international importance, such as nonproliferation, are treated in his part. Other advanced reactors, such as the gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR), the super critical water-cooled reactor (SCWR), and the molten-salt reactor (MSR), are briefly introduced in Sects. 58.1.4, 58.1.5, and 58.1.7, respectively. 

Figure 10.1 2013 Generation-IV International Forum Roadmap—viability, performance, and demonstration phases. GFR, gas-cooled fast reactor LFR, lead-cooled fast reactor MSR, molten salt reactor SCWR, supercritical water reactor SFR, sodium-cooled fast reactor VHTR, very-high—temperature reactor.

Part One, which is completely dedicated to six Generation IV concepts (1) Gas-cooled Fast Reactor (GFR) or just High Temperature Reactor (HTR) (2) Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) (3) Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) (4) Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) (5) Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) and (6) Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) and which is started with the official information from the Generation IV International Forum (GIF). 

Work has been done in developing thorium cycle converter-reactor systems. Several prototypes, including the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) and molten salt converter reactor experiment (MSRE), have operated. While the HTGR reactors are efficient, they are not expected to become important commercially for many years because of certain operating difficulties. Thorium is recovered commercially from the mineral monazite, which contains from 3 to 9% ThO along with rare-earth minerals. Much of the internal heat the Earth produces has been attributed to thorium and uranium. 

Forsberg, C. W. 2006d, Developments in Molten Salt and Liquid-Salt-Cooled Reactors, Paper 6292 CD-KOM), International Congress on Advanced Nuclear Power Plants, June 4-8, 2006, Reno, Nevada. 

This design example is suggested from hydrocarbon oxidation processes such as benzene oxidation into maleic anhydride or the synthesis of phthalic anhydride from o-xylene. These strongly exothermic processes are carried out in multitubular reactors cooled by molten salt that is circulating around the tubes and that exchanges heat to an internal or external boiler. The length of the tubes is 3 m and their internal diameter is 2.54 cm. One reactor may contain 2500 tubes in parallel and even 10,000 or more in the latest versions. In German processes the... 

In 2002, the Generation IV International Forum selected six systems as Generation IV technologies very-high-temperature reactors (VHTRs), supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWRs), gas-cooled fast reactors (GFRs), lead-cooled fast reactors (LFRs), sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), and molten salt-cooled reactors (MSRs). As shown in Table 12.1, the spectra of the operating conditions for the six selected types of reactors are versatile [1]. 

It has also been proposed that heat exchangers be manufactured with C/C materials, both for VHTR and, more recently, for molten salt-cooled reactors (MSRs). For this last type of reactor, other components can also be envisaged, such as control rods, internal drivers, core barrels, and internal pieces. 

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