Development of the Tritium Transport Analysis Code for the Thorium-Based Molten Salt Reactor

Abstract The Thorium-Based Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR) has been highlighted for its safety, economy, and nuclear nonproliferation. A program for developing the TMSR system has been launched in Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the TMSR system, mixtures of LiF and BeF2, termed FLiBe, are proposed and used as the primary coolant salt, in which tritium is produced mainly by the neutron reactions of lithium. In the TMSR system, at high temperatures, tritium can permeate through metal walls to the surroundings, leading to a potential radiological hazard. Thus, tritium control becomes a major problem hindering the development of the TMSR system. Evaluation of the tritium distribution is necessary for tritium control in the TMSR system. In this study, the Tritium Transport Analysis Code (TTAC) has been developed for simulating the tritium behaviors in the TMSR system (hence, the code TMSR-TTAC), such as tritium chemical forms in coolant salts, tritium transport behaviors, and tritium distribution in the system. The model code is developed by the MATLAB/SIMULINK package, and it is based on the mass balance equations of the tritium-containing species and hydrogen. TMSR-TTAC is benchmarked with the molten salt reactor model, which is based on Molten Salt Reactor Experiment designs. The results show that TMSR-TTAC has the ability to calculate the tritium distribution in the TMSR system.

[1]  R. C. Robertson,et al.  MSRE DESIGN AND OPERATIONS REPORT. PART I. DESCRIPTION OF REACTOR DESIGN , 1965 .

[2]  E. S. Bettis,et al.  DESIGN STUDIES OF 1000-Mw(e) MOLTEN-SALT BREEDER REACTORS , 1966 .

[3]  R. E. Thoma.  CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF MSRE OPERATIONS. , 1971 .

[4]  R. C. Robertson,et al.  CONCEPTUAL DESIGN STUDY OF A SINGLE-FLUID MOLTEN-SALT BREEDER REACTOR. , 1971 .

[5]  S. Whitaker.  Forced convection heat transfer correlations for flow in pipes, past flat plates, single cylinders, single spheres, and for flow in packed beds and tube bundles , 1972 .

[6]  R. B. Briggs,et al.  TRITIUM IN MOLTEN-SALT REACTORS. , 1972 .

[7]  R. Briggs,et al.  Method for calculating the steady-state distribution of tritium in a molten- salt breeder reactor plant , 1975 .

[8]  W. R. Grimes,et al.  Fission product behavior in the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment , 1975 .

[9]  Donald R. Olander,et al.  Redox condition in molten fluoride salts: Definition and control , 2002 .

[10]  P. Peterson,et al.  Molten-Salt-Cooled Advanced High-Temperature Reactor for Production of Hydrogen and Electricity , 2003 .

[11]  J. Freidberg,et al.  Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy , 2007 .

[12]  Mike Patterson,et al.  Study on the tritium behaviors in the VHTR system. Part 1. Development of tritium analysis code for VHTR and verification , 2010 .

[13]  A. Ciampichetti,et al.  A model for tritium transport in fusion reactor components: The FUS-TPC code , 2012 .

[14]  John D. Stempien,et al.  Tritium transport, corrosion, and Fuel performance modeling in the Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (FHR) , 2015 .

[15]  Jun Cai,et al.  Analysis of tritium production in a 2 MW liquid-fueled molten salt experimental reactor and its environmental impact , 2016 .