IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i23p8865-d982521.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Employment of a Chloride or Fluoride Salt Fuel System in Advanced Molten Salt Reactors, Part 1: Thermophysical Properties and Core Criticality

Author

Listed:
  • Omid Noori-kalkhoran

    (School of Engineering, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK
    School of Engineering, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK)

  • Dzianis Litskevich

    (School of Engineering, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK)

  • Anna Detkina

    (School of Engineering, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK)

  • Lakshay Jain

    (School of Engineering, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK)

  • Gregory Cartland-Glover

    (Scientific Computing Department, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Daresbury Laboratory, SciTech Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, UK)

  • Bruno Merk

    (School of Engineering, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK)

Abstract

Molten salt reactors (MSRs), as one of the six main technologies of Gen IV, can meet the broad area of sustainability, economics, safety and reliability, proliferation resistance and physical protection goals. One of the main and first challenges in designing molten salt fast reactors (MSFRs) is the selection of an appropriate molten salt fuel system based on the envisaged applications and objectives. In this study’s series, a full-scope evaluation has been conducted about employing either chloride or fluoride salt fuels as the main competitors’ candidates for fuel salt in MSFR designs. Two distinguished projects, EVOL (CNRS, Grenoble-France), based on fluoride salt, and iMAGINE (The University of Liverpool, UK), based on chloride salts, were considered in order to achieve this goal as case studies. The first part of this series (part 1—this article) deals with the investigation of the thermophysical properties of the salt fuel system, criticality search and neutron-flux energy spectrum. An identical typical design of the MSFR core has been considered for a neutronic simulation by using MCNPX V2.7 based on the chemical composition of the fuel salt mentioned in both projects. The thermophysical evaluation has been conducted through literature research and theoretical methods based on the experimental values for the salt component properties. The results of the study are presented for thermophysical properties, including the melting point, vapour pressure/boiling point, specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity and density, in addition to neutronic simulation for the core critical dimension and neutron-flux spectrum of both the chloride- and fluoride-based salt fuel systems. In the discussion of the results, it is concluded that both the chloride and fluoride salt fuel systems have benefits that are seen on different comparative parameters. The delivered data will provide future decision makers with evidence for the salt choice for balancing their design objectives with the opportunities and expectations. Thus, a final selection of the most appropriate salt fuel system to be used in MSFRs will be postponed for more investigation in the final part of this article series, combining the data with different potential user profiles.

Suggested Citation

  • Omid Noori-kalkhoran & Dzianis Litskevich & Anna Detkina & Lakshay Jain & Gregory Cartland-Glover & Bruno Merk, 2022. "On the Employment of a Chloride or Fluoride Salt Fuel System in Advanced Molten Salt Reactors, Part 1: Thermophysical Properties and Core Criticality," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:23:p:8865-:d:982521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/8865/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/23/8865/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruno Merk & Anna Detkina & Dzianis Litskevich & Seddon Atkinson & Gregory Cartland-Glover, 2020. "The Interplay between Breeding and Thermal Feedback in a Molten Chlorine Fast Reactor," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruno Merk & Dzianis Litskevich & Anna Detkina & Omid Noori-kalkhoran & Lakshay Jain & Elfriede Derrer-Merk & Daliya Aflyatunova & Greg Cartland-Glover, 2023. "iMAGINE—Visions, Missions, and Steps for Successfully Delivering the Nuclear System of the 21st Century," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Bruno Merk & Anna Detkina & Dzianis Litskevich & Omid Noori-kalkhoran & Lakshay Jain & Gregory Cartland-Glover, 2022. "A HELIOS-Based Dynamic Salt Clean-Up Study Analysing the Effects of a Plutonium-Based Initial Core for iMAGINE," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:23:p:8865-:d:982521. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.