Abstract
The neutronic properties of molten salt reactors (MSRs) differ from those of traditional solid fuel reactors owing to their nuclear fuel particularity. Based on the Monte-Carlo N particle transport code, the effects of the size and shape of the fuel salt channel on the neutron physics of an MSR cell are investigated systematically in this study. The results show that the infinite multiplication factor (k∞) first increases and then decreases with the change in the graphite cell size under certain fuel volume fraction (FVF) conditions. For the same FVF and average chord length, when the average chord length is relatively small, the k∞ values for different fuel salt channel shapes agree well. When the average chord length is relatively large, the k∞ values for different fuel salt channel shapes differ significantly. In addition, some examples of practical applications of this study are presented, including cell selection for the core and thermal expansion displacement analysis of the cell.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Shi-He Yu, Ya-Fen Liu, and Pu Yang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ya-Fen Liu, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Additional information
This work was supported by the Chinese TMSR Strategic Pioneer Science and Technology Project (No.XDA02010000), the Frontier Science Key Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No.QYZDY-SSW-JSC016), and the Shanghai Sailing Program (No. Y931021031).
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Yu, SH., Liu, YF., Yang, P. et al. Neutronics analysis for MSR cell with different fuel salt channel geometries. NUCL SCI TECH 32, 9 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-020-00844-0
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Keywords
- Molten salt reactor
- Fuel salt channel
- Cell geometry
- Neutronics