Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy

841 Pages·2017·22.45 MB·English

by  Thomas James Dolan (ed.)

Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy
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Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy
Molten Salt Reactors
and Thorium Energy
Edited by
Thomas J. Dolan
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Vision
Weenvisionaworldwherealmosteverycountryhasaffordablemoltensaltreactors
burning thorium, uranium, and spent fuel actinides, producing electricity, hydrogen,
anddesalinizedwaterwithnoseriousaccidents.
Thispageintentionallyleftblank
Contents
ListofContributors xvii
Preface xxiii
1 Introduction 1
ThomasJ.Dolan
1.1 NeedforMSR 1
1.2 MSRoriginandresearchcurtailment 2
1.3 MSRactivities 3
1.4 Fissilefuels 4
1.5 Thoriumfueladvantages 5
1.6 LiquidfuelMSR 6
1.7 AdvantagesofliquidfuelMSR 7
1.8 MSRdevelopmentissues 10
1.9 Tritiumissues 11
References 12
2 Electricityproduction 13
LindsayDempsey,CharlesForsbergandThomasJ.Dolan
2.1 Heatengines 13
2.2 Rankinecycles 15
2.3 HeliumBraytoncycles 16
2.4 SupercriticalCO Braytoncycles 18
2
2.5 Metalvaporcombinedcycles 20
2.6 NuclearairBraytonpowercycles 20
2.7 Summary 27
References 27
3 Chemicalfundamentalsandapplicationsofmoltensalts 29
StephenBoydandChristopherTaylor
3.1 Introduction 30
3.2 Fundamentalphysicochemical propertiesofmoltensalts 30
3.3 Remotepowersources 45
3.4 Heatexchangersandmaterialsembrittlementchallenges 55
3.5 High-temperaturecommercialapplications 60
3.6 Actinideburning 68
3.7 Medicalisotopes 73
viii Contents
3.8 Desalination 74
3.9 Opticalapplications 80
3.10 Summaryandconclusions 80
Acknowledgment 82
References 82
FurtherReading 90
4 ReactorphysicsofMSR 93
YoichiroShimazu
4.1 Introduction 93
4.2 Interactionofneutronswithmatter 93
4.3 Multiplicationfactorofchainreactions 95
4.4 Cross-sections 95
4.5 Reactionrate 96
4.6 Neutronenergydistributionandmaxwell(cid:1)bolzmanndistribution 96
4.7 Transportanddiffusionofneutrons 98
4.8 Criticalityequation 101
4.9 Kineticequations 104
4.10 MonteCarlomethod 107
4.11 Conclusion 108
References 109
5 Kinetics,dynamics,andneutronnoiseinstationaryMSRs 111
ImrePa´zsitandVictorDykin
5.1 Introduction 111
5.2 TheMSRmodel 113
5.3 Thestaticequations 114
5.4 Space(cid:1)time-dependenttransientduringstart-up 125
5.5 Dynamicequationsinthefrequencydomain:neutronnoise 140
5.6 Thepointkineticapproximationandthepointkineticcomponent 148
5.7 TheneutronnoiseinanMSR,inducedbypropagatingperturbations 159
5.8 Conclusions 164
Acknowledgment 164
References 164
6 Thermalhydraulicsofliquid-fueledMSRs 167
LelioLuzzi,AntonioCammi,ValentinoDiMarcelloandAlessandroPini
6.1 Introduction 167
6.2 Preliminaryapproachtothermo-hydraulicsofinternallyheated
moltensalts 168
6.3 Heattransferandpressurelosses 173
6.4 Effectsofinternalheatgenerationonnaturalcirculationstability 178
6.5 Conclusions 184
Acknowledgments 184
Contents ix
Abbreviations 185
References 185
7 Materials 189
RitsuoYoshioka,MotoyasuKinoshitaandIanScott
7.1 Moltensalt 189
7.2 Solidfuelswithmoltensaltcoolants 193
7.3 Thoriumfuelcycle 194
7.4 Moderators 194
7.5 Structural materials 199
7.6 Conclusions 206
References 206
8 Chemicalprocessingofliquidfuel 209
JanUhlı´rˇ
8.1 Introduction 209
8.2 ProcessingoffreshliquidfuelforMSR 210
8.3 ReprocessingtechnologyofMSRfuel 211
8.4 Gasextractionprocess 213
8.5 Fusedsaltvolatilization 215
8.6 Moltensalt/liquidmetalextraction 220
8.7 Electrochemicalseparationprocesses 223
8.8 Vacuumdistillation 224
8.9 MSRreprocessingflowsheets 225
8.10 Conclusions 229
References 229
9 Environment,waste,andresources 231
RitsuoYoshioka,MotoyasuKinoshita,LarsJorgensenand
MagdiRagheb
9.1 Decayheatinthethoriumcycle 231
9.2 Radiotoxicityinthethoriumcycle 238
9.3 NuclearwastefromThorContypereactors 246
9.4 Resourceutilization 247
9.5 Summary 258
References 258
10 NonproliferationandsafeguardsaspectsoftheMSRfuelcycle 261
SophieGrapeandCarlHellesen
10.1 Introductiontononproliferationandnuclearsafeguards 261
10.2 Theproliferationthreat 262
10.3 Attractivenessofnuclearmaterials 263
10.4 Nuclearsafeguards 265
10.5 NonproliferationadvantagesanddisadvantageswithMSRs 271