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The Other Energy Markets
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Global Energy Market Trends, 2021
The liquid fuel for the molten salt reactor was a mixture of lithium, beryllium, thorium and uranium fluorides: LiF-BeF2-ThF4-UF4 (72-16-12-0.4 mol%). It had a peak operating temperature of 705°C in the experiment, but could have operated at much higher temperatures, since the boiling point of the molten salt was in excess of 1400°C.
Economics of Nuclear Power
Published in Kenneth D. Kok, Nuclear Engineering Handbook, 2016
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.
Non-aqueous Processing
Published in Reid A. Peterson, Engineering Separations Unit Operations for Nuclear Processing, 2019
Michael F. Simpson, Andrew M. Casella
The molten salt reactor (MSR) is a Generation-IV reactor concept that currently has gained much interest for commercial development and is on the short list of reactor concepts for which research is currently funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (LeBlanc 2010). Notable startup companies that have recently invested in designing MSRs include TerraPower, Terrestrial Energy, Flibe Energy, Elysium Industries, and TransAtomic Power. All of these concepts are actually derived from the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE), which was carried out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s. The MSRE featured a molten fluoride salt as the fuel (LiF–BeF2–ZrF4–UF4) for a thermal neutron spectrum reactor (Haubenreich and Engel 1970). In contrast, TerraPower and Elysium Industries have worked for the last several years on design of a molten chloride salt-based fast reactor, while the other mentioned companies have worked on development of thermal neutron spectrum fluoride salt reactors. Universally, the ability to operate at high temperatures but low pressures is lauded by developers as the key benefit of MSRs compared to conventional technology. High temperature operation drives either high efficiency electricity production and/or production of valuable chemical products such as hydrogen. Low pressure should correspond to great improvements in operational safety, as the expense associated with robust reactor containment is lessened. Since the fuel in an MSR is designed to always be in fluid form, there is no equivalent to the meltdown accident. The MSR fuel is contained in pipes and vessels that are designed to safely hold molten fuel, while thin zirconium-alloy fuel cladding is not designed to hold molten fuel. The other great benefit of MSRs that was worked on under the MSRE research program is the ability to continuously remove fission products from the fuel while not stopping reactor operation. This can lead to increased run time for the plants and substantial reduction in the amount of nuclear fuel-based waste that is generated. An MSR can conceivably be operated as a chemical reactor in which nuclear reactions are actively occurring. The reactor can be likened to the molten salt electrolyte in an ER, except that fission is perpetually occurring. Fission serves to increase the redox potential of the salt, increase the fission product content, and consume fissionable actinides. Electrorefining spent fuel in molten salt achieves virtually the same functions, except for increasing the redox potential. Thus, some chemical processes that have been studied for application to electrorefining can be applied to achieving optimal operation of an MSR. This includes fuel salt synthesis from commercial spent fuel, internal recycle of actinides, and concentration of fission products into waste forms. Each of these applications is discussed in more detail below.
Radiation Dose Assessment of Tritium Released from the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor
Published in Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2023
Wenyu Cheng, Jie Liang, Mingjun Zhang, Fei Wei, Jinglin Li, Xiaochong Xue, Youshi Zeng, Ke Deng, Qin Zhang, Wei Liu
The molten salt reactor (MSR) is a new class of nuclear fission reactor that uses a fluid molten salt mixture as fuel, and it is one of the six advanced reactor types for future nuclear energy proposed in the Generation IV International Forum.1 Previously, researchers built MSRs such as the molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR) and the molten salt reactor experiment.2,3 The MSR design has aroused widespread concern recently.4,5 In 2011, the Chinese Academy of Sciences began the construction of a 2-MW(thermal) liquid-fueled thorium molten salt experimental reactor (TMSR-LF1). The TMSR-LF1 has the advantages of strong safety and high fuel efficiency.6 Based on the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor’s (TMSR’s) advantages, the larger power of the TMSR might be constructed in the near future, for example, 30- and 2250-MW(thermal) TMSRs. Since the TMSR’s fuel is rich in lithium such as LiF-BeF2-ThF4-UF4 (68-28-0.1-3.9 mol %), it produces large amounts of tritium during its operation.7–11 Therefore, our research group is studying tritium control methods.12,13
Molybdenum-99 from Molten Salt Reactor as a Source of Technetium-99m for Nuclear Medicine: Past, Current, and Future of Molybdenum-99
Published in Nuclear Technology, 2023
Jisue Moon, Kristian Myhre, Hunter Andrews, Joanna McFarlane
The MSR is one of the reactor concepts considered by the Generation-IV International Forum, which is an international collaboration to study next-generation nuclear power reactors. The MSR is an attractive option as a safe and efficient source of 99Mo (Ref. 39). MSRs operate on the same basic principle as current nuclear power reactors in terms of controlling the fission reaction to produce steam that powers electricity-generating turbines, but they have an underlying difference. Molten salt plays a key role in the reactor core, including as a carrier salt, or a coolant, or both. The fuel of the fuel-salt in a MSR is based on the dissolution of fissile material such as 235U, 233U, or 239Pu in an inorganic salt that is pumped through the reactor vessel and the primary circuit, which also serves as the primary coolant. The heat generated by the fission process is transferred to a secondary coolant (i.e., an additional molten salt) in a heat exchanger. This makes the MSR design a promising and safe high-temperature nuclear reactor for the future generation of electricity and of heat production.
Design and Control of a Fueled Molten Salt Cartridge Experiment for the Versatile Test Reactor
Published in Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2022
Joel McDuffee, Rich Christensen, Daniel Eichel, Mike Simpson, Supathorn Phongikaroon, Xiaodong Sun, John Baird, Adam Burak, Shay Chapel, Joonhyung Choi, Jacob Gorton, D. Ethan Hamilton, Dimitris Killinger, Sam Miller, Jason Palmer, Christian Petrie, Daniel Sweeney, Adrian Schrell, James Vollmer
Corrosion is a life-limiting phenomenon that is critical for consideration when designing and maintaining a nuclear reactor. Corrosion is especially important for MSR designs. For example, previous testing has shown reductions in thickness ranging from 70 to 1100 µm/year for specimens exposed to FLiNaK at 850°C for 500 h (Ref. 41). Irradiation has been shown to affect corrosion and can increase or decrease corrosion rates, depending on the material and environmental conditions. These effects complicate the robust predictions of component life span.42,43 The VTR is being designed to allow natural circulation cartridge experiments for exposing material specimens to a representative molten salt coolant during irradiation. Corrosion has historically been measured using surveillance specimens that are periodically extracted for detailed analyses.44 Postexposure mass loss measurements of the specimens are assumed to be representative of larger structural components. However, the discrete and periodic nature of these measurements leads to highly conservative maintenance schedules and long component qualification times.