Posted on 02/21/2015 8:34:55 AM PST by ckilmer
A next-generation fast breeder reactor design is gaining popularity in research circles.
On 6 June, UK researchers Jasper Tomlinson and Trevor Griffiths won £75,000 in Technology Strategy Board funding (including £20,000 of contributions-in-kind) to carry out an eight-month feasibility study.
The project, which will be managed by mechanical engineer Rory O'Sullivan, aims to develop a ranking of alternatives and configurations of a liquid-fuelled molten-salt reactor, including costs, regulatory, public acceptance and site issues for building and licensing a pilot-scale demonstration reactor in the UK. It would aim to prepare the ground for a full engineering design for the chosen option, to present to potential investors.
"There isn't an MSR currently operating anywhere. If people could look at one, their conception of nuclear power would entirely alter. They are nothing like the present PWR setup. They are so extraordinarily different. That is what we are trying to do," says Jasper Tomlinson, whose small business Energy Process Developments will be carrying out the work starting in September at the earliest, subject to signing a contract.
The Alvin Weinberg Foundation is a London-based charity advocating for Gen IV reactors and thorium fuel, lists seven current international MSR projects: Ian Scott's Moltex project in the UK, Elsa Merle-Lecotte's EVOL project in France, the US Transatomic Power project, David LeBlanc's Terrestrial Energy project in Canada, Kirk Sorensen's Flibe Energy project in the USA, Motoyasu Kinoshita's Fuji Reactor project in Japan, and Hongjie Xu's MSR Project in China.
On 19 May Atkins nuclear technical director, Paul Littler, and consultant Barry Snelson gave a lecture in Warrington entitled, 'Fission's future: Molten Salt Reactors - can they be the answer?'
In the talk, Littler said that there are some 18 different varieties of MSR. All use fuel in molten form; the salt consists of a chemical solution mixture of actinides, thorium, plutonium and uranium as halides. Temperatures are up to 800°C, so significantly hotter than LWRs, but because salts' boiling points are almost double that (1400°C) a pressurised primary system is not required.
According to the Weinberg foundation, MSRs have several benefits over current LWRs: molten fuel allows 30 times greater burnup than solid fuel, eliminates the risk of LOCAs since the coolant is also the fuel, and the molten salt fuel is not chemically reactive, so the fuel simply solidifies if it leaks out.
Littler of Atkins said that the reactor also allows the breeding of uranium from fertile thorium, which is three times more abundant than uranium in the earth, and in terms of fuel-grade deposits is perhaps 100 times more abundant.
Littler said that MSRs could fill the gap between the end of the current generation of nuclear reactors and the development of commercial fusion power, and start up about 2050.
The lecture is available to watch online:
http://www.atkinsglobal.com/en-GB/media-centre/events/atkins-lectures/2014/molten-salt-reactors-can-they-be-the-answer
fertile thorium bump.
Bookmark for later.
News you might find interesting.
Where I’m working we are developing a liquid sodium cooled reactor to process “spent” nuclear fuel.
It Pours when it Rains.
The Alvin Weinberg Foundation is a London-based charity advocating for Gen IV reactors and thorium fuel, lists seven current international MSR projects: Ian Scott’s Moltex project in the UK, Elsa Merle-Lecotte’s EVOL project in France, the US Transatomic Power project, David LeBlanc’s Terrestrial Energy project in Canada, Kirk Sorensen’s Flibe Energy project in the USA, Motoyasu Kinoshita’s Fuji Reactor project in Japan, and Hongjie Xu’s MSR Project in China.
.........................
In addition to these another US based outfit called Thorcon by Martingale has thrown their hat in the ring. Beyond their first announcement a month or so ago, there’s little information on them. However, their staff is pretty impressive. It includes a guy who helped Edward Teller write his last paper on thorium reactors back in 2004 and a guy who has been in charge of a number of big projects for Google.http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/2015/01/thorcon-moving-forward.html
Where I’m working we are developing a liquid sodium cooled reactor to process “spent” nuclear fuel.
..............
My understanding is that the msr reactors can burn both spent uranium and thorium. Some more. Some less depending on the design.
Wouldn’t a salt solution be water soluble? The fuel mixture might solidify upon leakage, but what if it leaks into standing water? I see a potential for ground water contamination here. Was this addressed in the talks?
....and what happened to those Italian guys that had a mystery bottle of water with special electrodes that produced electricity and heat....?
For later.
This is not table salt.
Most research has focused on FLiBe, because lithium and beryllium are reasonably effective moderators, and form a eutectic salt mixture with a lower melting point than each of the constituent salts. Beryllium also performs neutron doubling, improving the neutron economy.
FLiBe is a molten salt made from a mixture of lithium fluoride (LiF) and beryllium fluoride (BeF2). It is both a nuclear reactor coolant and solvent for fertile or fissile material. It served both purposes in the Molten-Salt Reactor.
FLiBe salt has low hygroscopy and solubility in water.
The main goal of a prism-style or FBR is disposition of plutonium and other transuranics, but in principle they can be used to recycle and consume all actinides.
Not a much different concept than the old FFTF at Hanford, WA.
(Fast Flux Test Facility)
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Flux_Test_Facility<
Bookmark
...after it melts everything below it between here and China.....
The fuel salt must be within a special moderator confinement to reach criticality, otherwise no reaction is supported. A leak of reactor salt-diluent fuel with short-term reaction side products will still rapidly cool ( below 459 °C for FLiBe )and form solid.
No “metallic core meltdown” implied in the movie effects of “The China Syndrome” nor Chernobyl’s “positive void coefficient” design flaw allowing a runaway reaction.
As long as the rain isn’t self-boiling.....
Would changing the pH have any effect on its solubility in water?
You would change PH of the mixture by adding other components. But you haven’t changed the chemical composition of the salts so the would not be affected.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.