Thermal hydraulic design of a salt-cooled highly efficient environmentally friendly reactor

A 1 OOOMWth liquid-salt cooled thermal spectrum reactor was designed with a long fuel cycle, and high core exit temperature. These features are desirable in a reactor designed to provide process heat applications such as oil refinery needs of heat and electricity. The reactor uses the binary salt NaF-BeF₂ as the primary coolant, and uses U-Zr-H as fuel and to provide neutron moderation. Design options were studied under the constraints of maximum fuel temperature of 720[degree]C, and a vessel wall temperature similar to today's reactors (i.e. limited to 430[degree]C). The selected design achieves a core power density of 26.35 kW/1 and can achieve a 10 year core lifetime before refueling. The core has a pressure drop of 1.03 MPa, and uses a hexagonal lattice with small, 7mm outer diameter fuel pins. The pins are arranged in a tight 1.08 pitch-to-diameter ratio, and use wire wrap spacers and assembly ducts for mechanical support. Silicon carbide is used for cladding, and the fuel-clad gap is filled with a low-melting point liquid metal to act as a thermal bond between the fuel and the cladding. The core is encircled with two rows of reflector assemblies and one row of thermal shield assemblies. A layer of graphite provides thermal insulation to the reactor vessel.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Whitman, Joshua (Joshua J.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mujid S. Kazimi.

• Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58459

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/58459