Breed-and-burn fuel cycle in molten salt reactors

Molten-salt Reactors—history, Status, and Potential

Molten-salt breeder reactors (MSBR's) are being developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for generating low-cost power while extending the nation's resources of fissionable fuel. The fluid fuel in these reactors, consisting of UF4 and ThF4 dissolved in fluorides of beryllium and lithium, is circulated through a reactor core moderated by graphite. Technology developments over the past 20 y...

Reactivity Oscillations in Molten Salt Reactors

The modification of the fuel composition in a molten salt reactor can cause the precipitation of fissile materials and thus the generation of fissile lumps moving within the system and introducing localized perturbations of multiplicativity. The problem of reactivity oscillations connected to this phenomenon in circulating fuel systems is addressed. The periodic behavior of such reactivity inse...

Low-Waste and Proliferation-Free Production of Medical Radioisotopes in Solution and Molten-Salt Reactors

A Phased Development of Breed-and-Burn Reactors for Enhanced Nuclear Energy Sustainability

Several options for designing fast reactors to operate in the Breed-and-Burn (B&B) mode are compared and a strategy is outlined for early introduction of B&B reactors followed by a gradual increase in the fuel utilization of such reactors. In the first phase the fast reactor core will consist of a subcritical B&B blanket driven by a relatively small critical seed. As the required discharge burn...

Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

Molten carbonate fuel cells use carbonate salts of alkali metals as electrolyte. Due to the highly corrosive nature of the electrolyte, various countermeasures are being developed. MCFCs are expected for high-efficiency power generation systems using hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas and coal gas. This article describes the mechanisms of operation and cell degradation, as well as the featu...