ORNL-TM-7207 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site

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6, SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
MSRs was under development with U.S. gsverment
funding from 1947 to 1976 with a nominal one-year interruption from 11993
to 1974.
Although no significant effort to commercialize MSRs was in-
volved in this work, a very preliminary conceptual design was generated
for it 10QO-We MSBR, and some alternate fuel cycles were examined. The
current study of denatured PIS& was supported by the program (NASAP) to
identify, characterize, and assess pso8igeration-resistant alternatives
to currently projected nuclear power systems.
In principal, MSRs could be operated with a number of fuel cycles
ranging from plutonium-fueled proc~uction of denatured 2 "u, to break-even
breeding with fuel, to high-performance conversion of rhorim to
2 3 3 ~ with denatured 2 3 5 ~ makeup fuel. me last of these cycles currently
appears to be the most attractive and is the one chosen for characteriza-
tion in this study. The fuel cycle would involve an initial loading of
denatured 235~; operation for ~ Cyears I (at 75% capacity factor) with 2 3 5 ~
makeup, mo fuel discharge, and no chemical treatment for fission-product
removal; and end-of-life storageBdisposa1 of the spent fuel. me resource
utilization of this cycle could be significantly enhanced by end-of-life
recovery of the denatured uranium in the fuel salt via fluorination.
6.1 Reference-Concept DMSR
The differences between a DMSR and the conceptual design MSBR in-
volve primarily the reactor core and the fuel cycle. Thus, the rest of
the primary circuit (e.g., pumps and heat exchangers) and the balance
of the plant would be very similar for both concepts, and the descrip-
tions developed for the MSBR are presumed to be applicable to the DMSB.
Minor variatio~s that wight be associated with design optimization are
not considered.
The reactor vessel for the DMSR, about 18 m in diameter and 10 m
high, would be substantially larger than that for the high-performance
breeder.
This would permit the Pow power density required to allow a
38-year life expectancy for the reactor graphite and would also reduce