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  4. The EQL0D fuel cycle procedure and its application to the transition to equilibrium of selected molten salt reactor designs
 
research article

The EQL0D fuel cycle procedure and its application to the transition to equilibrium of selected molten salt reactor designs

Hombourger, Boris  
•
Krepel, Jiri
•
Pautz, Andreas
September 1, 2020
Annals Of Nuclear Energy

In recent years, Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs), one of the Generation IV concepts, have noticeably gained in interest. Several molten salt reactor types use fuel in liquid form, bringing various advantages, notably in terms of fuel cycle. However, simulating the evolution of liquid fuel under irradiation necessitates specific tools and methods, for example to simulate the removal of insoluble fission products from the salt mixture or continuous refueling of the reactor. For this purpose, the Serpent 2-based procedure EQL0D has been developed. It is designed for both equilibrium and finite-time burn-up calculations in liquidfueled molten salt reactors. This paper first details the most important methods implemented in the procedure to simulate liquid-fuel systems, after which the adequacy of the procedure is verified by comparing benchmark results with a comparable code. Examples of applications of this tool to the start-up and transition to closed fuel cycle of the historical single- and two-fluid Molten Salt Breeder Reactors as well as the more recent Molten Salt Fast Reactor, a fast-spectrum concept, are then presented. The obtained results show the challenge faced by thorium-cycle breeder MSRs to transition from available nuclear fuels to a closed thorium cycle, as many candidate fuels prove to be unusable for the transition to a closed cycle. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107504
Web of Science ID

WOS:000537577500011

Author(s)
Hombourger, Boris  
Krepel, Jiri
Pautz, Andreas
Date Issued

2020-09-01

Publisher

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Published in
Annals Of Nuclear Energy
Volume

144

Article Number

107504

Subjects

Nuclear Science & Technology

•

molten salt reactor

•

fuel cycle

•

thorium

•

msbr

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LRS  
Available on Infoscience
June 18, 2020
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/169385
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