Table of Contents
Why is molten salt used in reactors?
Molten salt reactors can run at high temperatures, yielding high thermal efficiency. This reduces size, expense, and environmental impacts. MSRs can offer a high “specific power,” that is high power at a low mass as demonstrated by ARE.
What salt is used in a molten salt reactor?
Flibe Energy in the USA is studying a 40 MW two-fluid graphite-moderated thermal reactor concept based on the 1960s-’70s US molten-salt reactor programme. It uses lithium fluoride/beryllium fluoride (FLiBe) salt as its primary coolant in both circuits. Fuel is uranium-233 bred from thorium in FLiBe blanket salt.
Why is molten salt corrosive?
Corrosion in molten FLiBe (and other fluoride salts) occurs by de-alloying of Cr from the alloy into the molten salt with a more accelerated attack along the grain boundaries than in the grains.
Who thorium reactors?
One advantage of thorium fuel is its low weaponization potential; it is difficult to weaponize the uranium-233/232 and plutonium-238 isotopes that are largely consumed in thorium reactors….World sources of thorium.
| Country | Tons | \% |
|---|---|---|
| Turkey | 344,000 | 13.2\% |
| India | 319,000 | 12.2\% |
| Brazil | 302,000 | 11.6\% |
| Venezuela | 300,000 | 11.5\% |
What is thorium molten salt?
And it will be the first molten-salt reactor to be fuelled by thorium. The salt acts as a coolant to transport heat from the reactor core. In addition, rather than solid fuel rods, molten-salt reactors also use the liquid salt as a substrate for the fuel, such as thorium, to be directly dissolved into the core.
Is there a thorium reactor?
Between 1999 and 2021, the number of operational thorium reactors in the world has risen from zero, to a handful of research reactors, to commercial plans for producing full-scale thorium-based reactors for use as power plants on a national scale.
Are all salts corrosive?
All salts (chlorides) used for deicing are corrosive.
What is Hastelloy N?
HASTELLOY® N alloy (UNS N10003) is a nickel-base alloy that was invented at Oak Ridge National Laboratories as a container material for molten fluoride salts. It has good oxida- tion resistance to hot fluoride salts in the temperature range of 1300 to 1600°F (704 to 871°C).
What are the advantages of a thorium nuclear power plant?
At the same time, thorium reactors operate at standard atmospheric pressures, eliminating the need to have pressurized water. That reduces the risks of steam-based incidents. The fuel for molten salt reactors is already in a liquid form as well, so the threat of a meltdown emergency is eliminated.
Are thorium fuel cycles proliferation-resistant?
The IAEA report, titled “Advanced Fuel Cycle and Reactor Concepts,” concluded that the proliferation resistance of thorium fuel cycles “would be equivalent to” the uranium/plutonium fuel cycles of conventional civilian nuclear reactors, assuming both included spent fuel reprocessing to isolate fissile material. Decades later, the story changed.
Can thorium be mixed with uranium in a nuclear reactor?
Considering liquid-fuel MSR designs, thorium can be dissolved with the uranium in a single fluid MSR, known as a homogeneous design. Two-fluid, or heterogeneous MSRs, would have fertile salt containing thorium in a second loop separate from the fuel salt containing fissile uranium or plutonium and could operate as a breeder reactor (MSBR).
What is Thor thorium and why is it important?
Thorium is believed to have at least 3 times more availability than uranium. That would provide the world with enough fuel to power reactors with this element for several centuries.