Lecture 2: Molten Salt Reactor Designs

Relevant reading | Fluid Fuel Reactors, Chapter 12.

Lecture notes [L2_Lecture Notes_Ch 12_Chemical Aspects Overview] [slides]

Lecture videos [Part 1] [Part 2]

Additional notes and resources:

Historical test reactors:

  1. Aircraft reactor experiment |”Fluid Fuel Reactors” book, Ch. 16 |
  2. Molten salt reactor experiment

Modern companies:

  1. Moltex | UK | Ch 21 |
  2. Terrestrial | Ch 18 | Canada & US
  3. Transatomic | Boston | Ch 22 |
  4. Thorcon | California | Ch 19 |
  5. Kairos (FHR company, formed in Jan. 2017) | California
  6. Elysium | Boston |
  7. Terrapower (the Bill Gates company | their salt project with Southern Company) | chloride salts, fast spectrum |
  8. TMSR (SINAP, Chinese project) | Ch 17 |
  9. Seaborg | Ch 24 | Mar. 2015 Design white paper | graphite-moderated, thermal spectrum | 700 oC inlet, 600 oC outlet | 50 MWth pilot, 150-250 MWth full-scale plant | 1st commercial plant designed for 4-year operation. nth of a kind aims for 60-year operation. | Pu & TRUs (waste burner), Th/U-233 | on-line fuel reprocessing used for reactivity control, instead of control rods. | proliferation resistance: Pu cannot be separated from Np – proliferation resistance. no element is in weapons-grade isotopic composition.  | Hastelloy N alloy | ThF4-LiF + actinides fuel salt | LiF-NaF-KF intermediate salt | Chemistry control through adjusting UF4/UF3 ratio in hydrogenation reactor. | Air Brayton, 25 MW turbine |
  10. SAMOFAR | Ch. 20 | European consortium of research institutions, started Aug. 2015 | fast-spectrum. fluoride salt. |
  11. Copenhagen Atomics | Ch. 23 | Nov. 2014 Design White Paper | Thorium fuel |

World Nuclear Association – link to MSRs/FHRs

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