MOLTEN SALT REACTORS
Reactor
design
A Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) was tested for the first time between 1965 and 1969 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
In this kind of reactors, the nuclear fuel (Th232 and U233-U235) is dissolved in a solution of Lithium Fluoride and Berylium Fluoride. Thus this fuel is liquid, which offers the possibility to continuously purify the fuel whereas in the case of a solid fuel, the fission products are prisoner of the structure of the reacting material. MSR operate at atmospheric pression and the temperature of the fuel can be kept homogenous.
The process can be open (no recycling of the fuel) or closed. In a closed process, the fissile U233 is continuously extracted from the Th232 blanket by the chemical reaction of the UF4 (liquid) created in the salt with injected Fluor gas creating UF6 (gas) . The separated U233 comes back in the center of the reactor where neutrons are generated and migrate to the fertile blanket of Thorium salt. The inner core is also continuously recycled allowing the continuous extraction of generated fission products like Xenon, a poison for nuclear fission.
A Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) was tested for the first time between 1965 and 1969 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
In this kind of reactors, the nuclear fuel (Th232 and U233-U235) is dissolved in a solution of Lithium Fluoride and Berylium Fluoride. Thus this fuel is liquid, which offers the possibility to continuously purify the fuel whereas in the case of a solid fuel, the fission products are prisoner of the structure of the reacting material. MSR operate at atmospheric pression and the temperature of the fuel can be kept homogenous.
The process can be open (no recycling of the fuel) or closed. In a closed process, the fissile U233 is continuously extracted from the Th232 blanket by the chemical reaction of the UF4 (liquid) created in the salt with injected Fluor gas creating UF6 (gas) . The separated U233 comes back in the center of the reactor where neutrons are generated and migrate to the fertile blanket of Thorium salt. The inner core is also continuously recycled allowing the continuous extraction of generated fission products like Xenon, a poison for nuclear fission.
Molten salts
The salts are chemically stable, and react slowly with air or water as
the radioactive elements are ion-linked with the solvant. They are
largely used in current industrial processes, for example in the
production of Aluminium.