Why is a molten salt reactor safer?

Why is a molten salt reactor safer?

MSRs are safer and more stable since they don’t reach high enough temperatures for meltdown (since the fuel is in a molten state) and the primary system is at a low operating pressure even at high temperature, due to the high boiling point (∼ 1400 °C at atmospheric pressure) and therefore do not require expensive …

How does a thorium molten salt reactor work?

The liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is a heterogeneous MSR design which breeds its U-233 fuel from a fertile blanket of lithium-beryllium fluoride (FLiBe) salts with thorium fluoride. The thorium-232 captures neutrons from the reactor core to become protactinium-233, which decays (27-day half-life) to U-233.

What is a thorium salt reactor?

How was thorium discovered?

Thorium was discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1828, in Stockholm, Sweden after he received a sample of an unusual black mineral from Hans Esmark found on an island close to Brevik, Norway. Thorium was discovered to be radioactive by Gerhard Schmidt in 1898 – the first element after uranium to be identified as such.

READ ALSO:   Who takes the first strategic timeout?

What is the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment?

The experiment was called the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, or MSRE. The MSRE used a thorium fuel cycle. It used a lithium beryllium fluoride coolant salt mixture, called FLiBe. It used a graphite moderator. It used a special material called Hastelloy N – a nickel alloy developed specifically to withstand the harsh environment.

Is a thorium reactor a molten salt reactor?

Plans for thorium reactors often depict them as molten salt reactors (only the plans exist, since no commercial thorium reactors have been built).

Why doesn’t India use a molten salt nuclear reactor?

The thorium reactor that India is working on uses a plutonium core to provide the neutrons, so it is a fast-breeder reactor, and would be more difficult to shut down if something went wrong. [5,7] It is also a solid-fuel heavy water reactor, so it lacks whatever high-temperature stability benefits a molten salt reactor might have. [7]

Where did thorium-based MSRs come from?

READ ALSO:   What was the most powerful fighter in WW2?

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) pioneered thorium-based MSRs in the 1950s for nuclear aircraft propulsion as part of the Manhattan Project. A 7.4 MW th experimental reactor operated at the laboratory over a period of four years —although only a portion of its fuel was derived from uranium-233 bred from thorium in other reactors.