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Flow field effect of delayed neutron precursors in liquid-fueled molten salt reactors

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Abstract

In molten salt reactors (MSRs), the liquid fuel salt circulates through the primary loop and a part of the delayed neutron precursors (DNPs) decays outside the reactor core. To model and analyze the flow field effect of DNPs in channel-type liquid-fueled MSRs, a three-dimensional space-time dynamics code, named ThorCORE3D, that couples neutronics, core thermal-hydraulics, and a molten salt loop system was developed and validated with the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) benchmarks. The effects of external loop recirculation time, fuel flow rate, and core flow field distribution on the delayed neutron fraction loss of MSRE at steady-state were modeled and simulated using the ThorCORE3D code. Then, the flow field effect of the DNPs on the system responses of the MSRE in the reactivity insertion transient under different initial conditions was analyzed systematically for the channel-type liquid-fueled MSRs. The results indicate that the flow field condition has a significant effect on the steady-state delayed neutron fractions and will further affect the transient power and temperature responses of the reactor system. The analysis results for the effect of the DNP flow field can provide important references for the design optimization and safety analysis of liquid-fueled MSRs.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Xian-Di Zuo, Mao-Song Cheng, Yu-Qing Dai, Kai-Cheng Yu & Zhi-Min Dai

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

    Xian-Di Zuo, Mao-Song Cheng, Yu-Qing Dai, Kai-Cheng Yu & Zhi-Min Dai

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  1. Xian-Di Zuo
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Xian-Di Zuo, Mao-Song Cheng, Yu-Qing Dai, and Kai-Cheng Yu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xian-Di Zuo and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mao-Song Cheng.

Additional information

This work was supported by Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XD02001005).

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Zuo, XD., Cheng, MS., Dai, YQ. et al. Flow field effect of delayed neutron precursors in liquid-fueled molten salt reactors. NUCL SCI TECH 33, 96 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-022-01084-0

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