Molten Salt Critical Rea~ors for the Transmutation of Transuranics and Fission Products

The primary goal of this work is to study the feasibility of designing molten salt reactors to be critical when fed with, and only with the transuranium isotopes (TUS) and long lived fission products produced in LWRS. Another goal is to estimate the transmutation characteristics which might be attainable from such a Molten Sal t Transmuting Reactor (MSTR). Both moderated and unmoderated MSTR systems are examined. It is found that MSTRS can be designed to be critical and to have potentially attractive transmutation characteristics. However, the minimum required TUS concentration, and the transmutation characteristics of the MSTR relative to the ATW and LMRs need yet to be quantified. Implications of MSTR on the nuclear energy strategy are discussed.