Thorium molten salt reactor

Merle-Lucotte, E. et al. 2007. Optimized Transition from the Reactors of Second and Third Generation to the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor. In Proceedings of the ICAPP 2007, Nice, France. 

Xu, H. 2012. Chinese Academy of Science Thorium Molten Salt Reactor Solid and Liquid Fuel. In ThEC2012 Shanghai 2012, Shanghai, China. 

XXX-16] FURUKAWA, K., et al., New primary energy source by thorium molten-salt reactor technology, Electrochemstry, 73, p. 552-563 (2005). 

Nuttin, A., Heuer, D., Billebaud, A. et al. (2005) Potential of thorium molten salt reactors detailed calculations and concept evolution with a view to large scale energy production. Prog. Nucl. Energy, 46, 77-79. 

Mathieu, L., Heuer, D., Merle-Lucotte, E., et al., 2009. Possible configiuations for the thorium molten salt reactor and advantages of the fast non-moderated version. Nuclear Science and Engineering 161, 78—89. 

Figure 14.14 Strategy of Chinese thorium molten salt reactor research and development. TMSR-SF, sohd-fueled thorium molten salt reactor TMSR-LF, liquid-fueled thorium molten...

Table 14.4 Initial events lists and their grouping of the solid-fueled thorium molten salt reactor...

Mei, M., Shiwei, S., He, Z., Chen, K., 2014. Research on initial event analysis for solid thorium molten salt reactor probabilistic safety assessment. Nuclear Techniques 37. 

Zhou, X., 2013. A Study on Measurement of Neutron Energy Spectrum for Thorium Molten Salt Reactor. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics. The University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

Uranium (233U) is a fissionable isotope of uranium produced artificially by bombarding thorium-232 with neutrons. Used as an atomic fuel in molten salt reactor and is a possible fuel in breeder reactors. Half-life 1.62 x 105 years. 

The tetrahalides are the thorium halides of greatest practical importance. The tetrafluoride ThF4 is the preferred starting material for large-scale production of thorium metal (Sec. 10.4). ThF4 has been proposed as fertile material in the fuel mixture of the molten-salt reactor. The tetraiodide has been used as feed material in the iodide process for making very pure thorium metal (Sec. 10.4). 

A representative application of the MSR concept is thorium reactor, and MSRE (Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment) with thermal output of 8 MW was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA and had been operated from 1966 to 1969. In the thorium reactor, the breeding of fissile nuclide, can be achieved through prevention of parasitic absorption by... 

Furukawa, K. 1992. The Combined System of Accelerator Molten-Salt Breeder (AMSB) and Molten-Salt Converter Reactor (MSCR). Japan-US Seminar on Th Fuel Reactors, Nara, Japan. Furukawa, K. et al. 1990. Summary Report Thorium Molten-Salt Nuclear Energy Synergetics./. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 27,1155-1178. 

The molten-salt reactor uses molten salt as either the primary coolant or fuel. In either case, both are in motion around the core. One such prototype reactor was built and operated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960 decade. The concept is primarily focused on the thorium/U-233 fuel cycle. The reactor primarily operates near atmospheric pressure, allows for continuous removal of fission products, and offers natural proliferation resistance characteristics. 

The FUJI concept was proposed in connection with the philosophy of the thorium molten salt nuclear energy synergetic system (THORIMS-NES) [XXX-4 to XXX-6], explained in more detail in Section XXX-1.5. Different from the MSBR, the FUJI is a concept of a simplified molten salt reactor without continuous chemical processing and periodic core graphite replacement, aimed at attaining near-breeder characteristics in a Th-U closed fuel cycle. 

XXX-8] FURUKAWA, K., MITACHI, K., KATO, Y, Small molten-salt reactor with rational thorium fuel cycle. Nuclear Engineering Design, 136, p. 157-165 (1992). 

Thorium was recently the focus of an environmental problem on extracting rare earths from ores, such as mon-azite. Actually thorium can be utilised for nuclear fertile material, thus the electrochemical process is one of the promising techniques of separation from rare earth elements. One of the systematic studies on the chemistry of the compounds containing thorium was the development of molten salt reactors [1]. To investigate the relationship between the electrochemical behaviour and physico-chemical properties of thorium is important for process design, but structural information of the related materials is still limited [2], Thus, EXAFS analysis of molten thorium fluoride in mono- and divalent cationic fluoride mixtures was systematically carried out to elucidate the variation in local structure of thorium cation in various melts. 

The ability of certain molten salts to dissolve uranium and thorium, salts in quantities of reactor interest made possible the consideration of fluid-fueled reactors with thorium in the fuel, without the danger of nuclear accidents as a result of the settling of a slurry. This additional degree of freedom has been exploited in the study of molten-salt reactors. 

The metal is a source of nuclear power. There is probably more energy available for use from thorium in the minerals of the earth s crust than from both uranium and fossil fuels. Any sizable demand from thorium as a nuclear fuel is still several years in the future. Work has been done in developing thorium cycle converter-reactor systems. Several prototypes, including the HTGR (high-temperature gas-cooled reactor) and MSRE (molten salt converter reactor experiment), have operated. While the HTGR reactors are efficient, they are not expected to become important commercially for many years because of certain operating difficulties. 

Several components are required in the practical appHcation of nuclear reactors (1 5). The first and most vital component of a nuclear reactor is the fuel, which is usually uranium slightly enriched in uranium-235 [15117-96-1] to approximately 3%, in contrast to natural uranium which has 0.72% Less commonly, reactors are fueled with plutonium produced by neutron absorption in uranium-238 [24678-82-8]. Even more rare are reactors fueled with uranium-233 [13968-55-3] produced by neutron absorption in thorium-232 (see Nuclear reactors, nuclear fuel reserves). The chemical form of the reactor fuel typically is uranium dioxide, UO2, but uranium metal and other compounds have been used, including sulfates, siUcides, nitrates, carbides, and molten salts. 

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. 

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