Reactor physics analysis of Molten Salt Reactor systems for application to civilian marine propulsion

用于民用船舶推进的熔盐反应堆系统的反应堆物理分析

• 批准号: 1950961
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1950961
• 关键词: Reactor; physics; analysis; Molten; Salt

Almost all operating reactors in the world (both civil and military) are based on light-water cooled systems that were first developed in the 1950s. Although these have been optimised over the intervening period, it is recognised that the scope for further improvements is limited. Consequently, recent research into systems that could offer significant improvements in safety, economics, and sustainability (so- called Generation-IV systems) has focused on alternative reactor designs. At the same time, concern over greenhouse gas emissions from maritime sources has renewed interest in the use of nuclear propulsion for commercial shipping. A system of particular interest for such applications is the Molten Salt Reactor, not least because it employs a low-pressure fluid system that could offer increased safety whilst reducing both the capital cost and the weight of the plant. However, the analysis of such systems is challenging, not least because in their "conventional" form, the fuel comprises a multi-component salt containing the fissile material that circulates through the reactor core and subsequently through heat exchangers before entering the core again. The analysis of such systems calls for coupled reactor physics and thermal-hydraulic analyses, which have hitherto been difficult to implement. The project will build on previous work in this area conducted within the Fuels and Reactors Research Group, and will focus on further developing analytical models to explore the performance of both "conventional" MSRs (i.e. fluid fuel) and "simplified" MSRs (e.g. separate fuel and coolant salts) under both steady-state and off-normal conditions, including the design of reactivity control systems (rods, removable BPs, etc.), and an investigation into the effects on core performance of continuous and intermittent fission product removal. If time permits, it would also be interesting to investigate the relative performance of a hybrid MSR design that employs fixed fuel elements of the HTR design (i.e. TRISO particles embedded in compacts), and to compare the relative merits of the two systems for marine propulsion applications. It is expected that specific research goals will be set following the initial period of research.

世界上几乎所有运行的反应堆（民用和军用）都基于 20 世纪 50 年代首次开发的轻水冷却系统。尽管这些措施在干预期间已得到优化，但人们认识到进一步改进的范围是有限的。因此，最近对可以在安全性、经济性和可持续性方面提供显着改进的系统（所谓的第四代系统）的研究集中在替代反应堆设计上。与此同时，对海洋源温室气体排放的担忧重新引发了人们对商业航运中使用核推进的兴趣。对于此类应用特别感兴趣的系统是熔盐反应堆，尤其是因为它采用低压流体系统，可以提高安全性，同时降低资本成本和工厂重量。然而，对此类系统的分析具有挑战性，尤其是因为在其“常规”形式中，燃料包含含有裂变材料的多组分盐，该裂变材料循环通过反应堆堆芯，随后通过热交换器，然后再次进入堆芯。对此类系统的分析需要耦合反应堆物理和热工水力分析，但迄今为止这很难实现。该项目将建立在燃料和反应堆研究小组之前在该领域进行的工作的基础上，并将重点放在进一步开发分析模型，以探索“传统”MSR（即流体燃料）和“简化”MSR（例如单独的稳态和非正常条件下的燃料和冷却剂盐），包括反应性控制系统（棒、可拆卸BP等）的设计，以及对连续和非正常条件下的堆芯性能影响的研究间歇性裂变产物去除。如果时间允许，研究采用 HTR 设计的固定燃料元件（即嵌入压块中的 TRISO 颗粒）的混合 MSR 设计的相对性能，并比较两种船舶推进系统的相对优点也将很有趣。应用程序。预计研究初期将设定具体的研究目标。