Phenomena identification and ranking table exercise for thorium based molten salt reactor-solid fuel design

Abstract

Thorium based molten salt reactor-solid fuel (TMSR-SF) design is an innovative reactor concept that uses high-temperature tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel with a low-pressure liquid salt coolant. In anticipation of getting licensed applications for TMSR-SF in the future, it is necessary to fully understand the significant features and phenomena of TMSR-SF design, as well as its transient behavior during accidents. In this paper, the safety-relevant phenomena, importance, and knowledge base were assessed for the selected events and the transient of TMSR-SF during station blackout scenario is simulated based on RELAP/SCDAPSIM Mod 4.0.

The phenomena having significant impact but with limited knowledge of their history are core coolant bypass flows, outlet plenum flow distribution, and intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) over/under cooling transients. Some thermal hydraulic parameters during the station blackout scenario are also discussed.

Keywords

phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) / thorium based molten salt reactor-solid fuel (TMSR-SF) / safety analysis / RELAP/SCDAPSIM

References

[1] Frepoli C. An overview of Westinghouse realistic large break LOCA evaluation model. Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations, 2008, 2008: 498737

[2] Boyack B E, Catton I, Duffey R B, Griffith P, Katsma K R, Lellouche G S, Levy S, Rohatgi U S, Wilson G E, Wulff W, Zuber N. Quantifying reactor safety margins part 1: an overview of the code scaling, applicability, and uncertainty evaluation methodology. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 1990, 119(1): 1–15

[3] Xu H, Dai Z, Cai X. Some physical issues of the thorium molten salt reactor nuclear energy system. Nuclear Physics News, 2014, 24(2): 24–30

[4] Perez M, Allison C M, Wagner R J, The development of RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD 4.0 for advanced fluid systems design analysis. In: 11th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Operation and Safety, Gyeongju, South Korea, 2016

[5] Scarlat R O, Laufer M R, Blandford E D, Zweibaum N, Krumwiede D L, Cisneros A T, Andreades C, Forsberg C W, Greenspan E, Hu L W, Peterson P F. Design and licensing strategies for the fluoride-salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (FHR) technology. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2014, 77: 406–420

[6] Xu H J. Thorium energy and molten salt reactor R&D in China. In: Revol J P, Bourquin M, Kadi Y, et al., eds. Thorium Energy for the World. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016, 37–44

[7] Liu L, Zhang D, Lu Q, Wang K, Qiu S. Preliminary neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analysis of a 2 MW thorium-based molten salt reactor with solid fuel. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2016, 86: 1–10

[8] Zhang D, Liu L, Liu M, Xu R, Gong C, Zhang J, Wang C, Qiu S, Su G. Review of conceptual design and fundamental research of molten salt reactors in China. International Journal of Energy Research, 2018, 42(5): 1834–1848

[9] Ball S J. Next generation nuclear plant phenomena identification and ranking tables (PIRTs). Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US, 2008

[10] Jiang S, Cheng M, Dai Z, Extension and validation of RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD 4.0 code on FHR. Nuclear Power Engineering, 2016, 37(06): 33–36 (in Chinese)

[11] Jiang S, Cheng M, Dai Z, Preliminary steady state and transient analysis of a molten salt based reactor using RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD 4.0. In: 16th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics (NURETH 2015), Chicago, US, 2015, 6130–6140

[12] Tian W, Qiu S, Su G, Jia D, Liu X, Zhang J. Thermohydraulic and safety analysis on China advanced research reactor under station blackout accident. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 2007, 34(4): 288–296

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature