Thorium Utilization Strategy for a Small Modula Molten Salt Reactor

LI Xiaoxiao; WU Jianhui; YU Chenggang; ZOU Chunyan; CAI Xiangzhou; CHEN Jingen

doi:10.11804/NuclPhysRev.34.03.672

The missions of the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR) Nuclear Energy System are to research and develop the thorium based molten salt reactors (MSR) belonging to the fourth generation of nuclear fission reactor system. A Small modular Molten Salt Reactor (SmMSR) is deployed to make full use of the advantages of online refueling and online reprocessing and to consider the rapid deployment of MSR. An innovative "three-stage" strategy of thorium utilization based on SmMSR is proposed to take the current condition of fuel reprocessing and its future evolution. The first stage can realize the thorium utilization at a large scale with online refueling and off-line processing. The second stage can obtain efficient thorium utilization with online refueling, online processing of uranium and off-line processing of minor actinides (MAs). The third stage is implemented with self-sustaining or breeding mode with online refueling and online processing of all heavy metals. Along with the development of three stages, the utilization of heavy metals will be obviously improved and the radio-toxicity will be significantly reduced. A SmMSR is designed to achieve the goals of the first stage of thorium utilization. And three kinds of nuclear fuel cycles with different startup fuel types (i.e., low enriched uranium (LEU), thorium mixed with LEU (LEU+Th) and thorium mixed with ²³³U (²³³U+Th)) are implemented. The results show that the performance for fuel cycle containing LEU is comparable to the pressurized-water reactor (PWR). Meanwhile, the nuclear utilization for that containing ²³³U is much higher than PWR, and the radio-toxicity for which is lower by ~2 magnitudes than that for PWR.

Thorium Utilization Strategy for a Small Modula Molten Salt Reactor

1. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China;

2. CAS Innovative Academies in TMSR Energy System, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China;

3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Funds: TMSR Strategic Pioneer Science and Technology Project of CAS (XDA02010000); National Natural Science Foundation of China (91326201); Frontier Science Key Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (QYZDYSSW-JSC016)

Corresponding author: 10.11804/NuclPhysRev.34.03.672

Received Date: 2016-12-12

Rev Recd Date: 2017-07-13

Publish Date: 2017-07-18

Key words:

Abstract: The missions of the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR) Nuclear Energy System are to research and develop the thorium based molten salt reactors (MSR) belonging to the fourth generation of nuclear fission reactor system. A Small modular Molten Salt Reactor (SmMSR) is deployed to make full use of the advantages of online refueling and online reprocessing and to consider the rapid deployment of MSR. An innovative "three-stage" strategy of thorium utilization based on SmMSR is proposed to take the current condition of fuel reprocessing and its future evolution. The first stage can realize the thorium utilization at a large scale with online refueling and off-line processing. The second stage can obtain efficient thorium utilization with online refueling, online processing of uranium and off-line processing of minor actinides (MAs). The third stage is implemented with self-sustaining or breeding mode with online refueling and online processing of all heavy metals. Along with the development of three stages, the utilization of heavy metals will be obviously improved and the radio-toxicity will be significantly reduced. A SmMSR is designed to achieve the goals of the first stage of thorium utilization. And three kinds of nuclear fuel cycles with different startup fuel types (i.e., low enriched uranium (LEU), thorium mixed with LEU (LEU+Th) and thorium mixed with ²³³U (²³³U+Th)) are implemented. The results show that the performance for fuel cycle containing LEU is comparable to the pressurized-water reactor (PWR). Meanwhile, the nuclear utilization for that containing ²³³U is much higher than PWR, and the radio-toxicity for which is lower by ~2 magnitudes than that for PWR.

HTML

Reference (12)

[1]	SERP J, ALLIBERT M, BENEŠ O, et al. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2014, 77:308.
[2]	KELLY J E. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2014, 77:240.
[3]	KŘEPEL J, HOMBOURGER B, FIORINA C, et al. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2014, 64:380.
[4]	MATHIEU L, HEUER D, BRISSOT R, et al. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2006, 48(7):664.
[5]	LESTER R M, NORMAN E, JEAN F. The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements[M]. Forth Edition. New York:Springer Science & Business Media, 2010:1.
[6]	JIANG M H, XU H J, DAI Z M. Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2012, 27(3):366. (in Chinese) (江绵恒, 徐洪杰, 戴志敏. 中国科学院院刊, 2012, 27(3):366.)
[7]	CAI X Z, DAI Z M, XU H J. Physics, 2016, 45(9):578. (in Chinese) (蔡翔舟, 戴志敏, 徐洪杰. 物理, 2016, 45(9):578.)
[8]	XU H J. Thorium Energy and Molten Salt Reactor R&D in China[M]. Thorium Energy for the World. New York:Springer International Publishing, 2016:37.
[9]	International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Advances in Small Modular ReactorTechnology Developments[M]. A Supplement to:IAEA Advanced Reactors Information System (ARIS), 2016 Ed.
[10]	XU H J, DAI Z M, CAI X Z. Nuclear Physics News, 2014, 24(2):24.
[11]	Reactor and Fuel Cycle Technology Subcommittee Report to the full Commission, Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future[C]. Washington, DC, January, 2012.
[12]	YU C G, LI X X, CAI X Z, et al. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2015, 85:597.

Thorium Utilization Strategy for a Small Modula Molten Salt Reactor

doi: 10.11804/NuclPhysRev.34.03.672

Abstract

References

Proportional views

通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

Article Metrics

Proportional views