Defining a Draft for a Zero Power Reactor Experiment for Molten Salt Reactors

定义熔盐反应堆零功率反应堆实验草案

基本信息

批准号：
EP/V027239/1
负责人：
Bruno Merk
金额：
$ 163.67万
依托单位：
University of Liverpool
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2021 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV027239%2F1
关键词：
Defining Draft Zero Power Reactor

项目摘要

The challenge for all future energy supply is given in UN Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. In a more UK centric view, the Low Carbon Transition Plan - UK's plan for building a low carbon nation: cutting emissions, maintaining secure energy supplies, maximising economic opportunities and protecting the most vulnerable - highlighted the demand in 2009. Recently, the governmental decision "UK becomes first major economy to pass net-zero emissions law" has reinforced the urgency of action. Nuclear technologies can deliver a promising solution for the share of required 24/7 reliable production which is essential for the stability of the national electricity supply. However, the current nuclear energy system is dominated by reactors which are not ideal for the required growth in energy production, since long-term operation of these reactors is not sustainable due to their limited use of the natural uranium. Their spent nuclear fuel contains still ~95% of its original energy content when it is unloaded from the reactor and considered as waste further on. Making use of this energy content still stored within the fuel can provide an almost unlimited energy resource. In addition, it can deliver a promising use for the Pu stockpile, an unused energetic asset leftover from the first attempt to close the fuel cycle. From economic and national security point of view the Pu stockpile currently has to be seen as a burden due to the requirement of safeguarded storage. This situation could be transformed by releasing its energetic and economic potential when used in a nuclear reactor.Based on this cognition, we propose a game-changer technology to support a massive and secure low carbon electricity production while achieving an almost complete reuse of spent fuel avoiding the growth of the spent fuel stockpile and the related waste problem. We propose closing the fuel cycle within an integrated system to avoid transports and the separation of fissile material with all problems related to eventual proliferation and misuse of nuclear materials. This can be achieved with innovative, liquid fuelled reactors linked to an integrated cleaning system. However, no real experiments are available for these kinds of highly innovative reactors. Following the process of establishing a new, innovative reactor system as recently developed by Merk et al., a zero-power reactor experiment would be the essential first step to accelerate the technological development. Thus, this proposal focusses on the aim to establish a zero-power experiment, to demonstrate UK's technological leadership in disruptive nuclear development to facilitate research in sustainable energy generation. This will be delivered to create evidence and support for a governmental investment decision by developing a draft core design for a multi-purpose facility as well as the correlated experimental programme by applying advanced modelling & simulation tools. However, a pre-requisite for a robust modelling & simulation study will be the reliable measurement of thermo-physical material data on the envisaged fuel salt composition to provide sufficiently reliable input data for the study of the experimental reactor. These measurements will require to produce a sufficient amount of uranium-based salt by establishing a production route on laboratory scale.All steps are designed to improve the UK skills base for a successful development of a game-changer technology. Special focus will be on modelling & simulation to re-establish the skill base in reactor physics and reactor physical experiments which is currently not sufficient for a start into new technologies. To create final evidence for a future governmental investment decision the chances and risks of the upgrading of an existing facility which would transform a burden to be decommissioned into a world leading experimental facility will be evaluated.

联合国可持续发展目标 7 提出了未来所有能源供应面临的挑战：确保人人获得负担得起的、可靠的、可持续的现代能源。从更以英国为中心的角度来看，低碳转型计划——英国建设低碳国家的计划：减少排放、维持能源供应安全、最大化经济机会和保护最弱势群体——强调了 2009 年的需求。最近，政府决定“英国成为第一个通过净零排放法的主要经济体”增强了采取行动的紧迫性。核技术可以为所需的 24/7 可靠生产提供一个有前途的解决方案，这对于国家电力供应的稳定至关重要。然而，目前的核能系统以反应堆为主，这些反应堆对于能源生产所需的增长来说并不理想，因为这些反应堆由于天然铀的使用有限而无法长期运行。当从反应堆中卸载并进一步被视为废物时，他们的乏核燃料仍含有约 95% 的原始能量。利用仍然储存在燃料中的能量可以提供几乎无限的能源。此外，它还可以为 Pu 储备提供有希望的用途，这是第一次尝试关闭燃料循环时剩余的未使用的能源资产。从经济和国家安全的角度来看，由于安全储存的要求，目前的Pu库存必须被视为一种负担。这种情况可以通过在核反应堆中释放其能量和经济潜力来改变。基于这种认识，我们提出了一种改变游戏规则的技术，以支持大规模、安全的低碳电力生产，同时实现乏燃料几乎完全的再利用避免乏燃料库存的增加和相关的废物问题。我们建议在一个综合系统内关闭燃料循环，以避免裂变材料的运输和分离以及与核材料最终扩散和滥用有关的所有问题。这可以通过与集成清洁系统相连的创新液体燃料反应堆来实现。然而，对于这类高度创新的反应堆，还没有真正的实验可用。继 Merk 等人最近开发的新型创新反应堆系统的建立过程之后，零功率反应堆实验将是加速技术发展的重要第一步。因此，该提案的重点是建立零功率实验，以展示英国在颠覆性核开发方面的技术领先地位，以促进可持续能源发电的研究。这将通过应用先进的建模和模拟工具开发多功能设施的核心设计草案以及相关的实验计划，为政府投资决策提供证据和支持。然而，稳健的建模和模拟研究的先决条件是对设想的燃料盐成分的热物理材料数据进行可靠的测量，以便为实验反应堆的研究提供足够可靠的输入数据。这些测量需要通过建立实验室规模的生产路线来生产足够量的铀基盐。所有步骤都旨在提高英国成功开发颠覆性技术的技能基础。将特别关注建模和模拟，以重建反应堆物理和反应堆物理实验的技能基础，而目前这还不足以启动新技术。为了为未来的政府投资决策提供最终证据，将对现有设施升级的机会和风险进行评估，该升级将把即将退役的负担转变为世界领先的实验设施。