Modeling and simulation of online reprocessing in the thorium-fueled molten salt breeder reactor

Andrei Rykhlevskii, Jin Whan Bae, Kathryn D. Huff

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In the search for new ways to generate carbon-free, reliable base-load power, interest in advanced nuclear energy technologies, particularly Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs), has resurged with multiple new companies pursuing MSR commercialization. To further develop these MSR concepts, researchers need simulation tools for analyzing liquid-fueled MSR depletion and fuel processing. However, most contemporary nuclear reactor physics software is unable to perform high-fidelity full-core depletion calculations for a reactor design with online reprocessing. This paper introduces a Python package, SaltProc, which couples with the Monte Carlo code, SERPENT2 to simulate MSR online reprocessing by modeling the changing isotopic composition of MSR fuel salt. This work demonstrates SaltProc capabilities for a full-core, high-fidelity model of the commercial Molten Salt Breeder Reactor (MSBR) concept and verifies these results to results in the literature from independent, lower-fidelity analyses.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)366-379
Number of pages14
JournalAnnals of Nuclear Energy
Volume128
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2019

Keywords

  • Depletion
  • Molten salt breeder reactor
  • Molten salt reactor
  • Nuclear fuel cycle
  • Online reprocessing
  • Python
  • Salt treatment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Modeling and simulation of online reprocessing in the thorium-fueled molten salt breeder reactor'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this