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ORNL-4191 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site

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Effective “one group” cross sections were cal-<br />

culated from results from OPTIMERC (a reactor<br />

analysis code) for <strong>the</strong> MSBR reference design.<br />

The fuel salt was assumed to be completely mixed,<br />

and capture terms were reduced by a factor equal<br />

to <strong>the</strong> ratio of <strong>the</strong> core volume to <strong>the</strong> total fucl<br />

salt volume.<br />

Heat-generation rates, both at <strong>the</strong> instant of<br />

removal from <strong>the</strong> reactor and after various decay<br />

periods, were calculated from <strong>the</strong> steady-state<br />

fission product concentrations in <strong>the</strong> fuel using<br />

CALDRON, a fission product heat-generation and<br />

decay code.<br />

Heat-generation rates obtained with 235U yields<br />

were in good agreement with rates calculated by<br />

a modified (to treat a steady-state reactor with<br />

continuous processing) version of PHOSE, a code<br />

written by E. D. Arnold and based on experimental<br />

data for decay of fission products. Agreement with<br />

a reputahle code indicates that <strong>the</strong> simplifications<br />

in <strong>the</strong> present calculations were reasonable.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> MSRR, some fission products will be re-<br />

moved from <strong>the</strong> fuel by <strong>the</strong> gas purge or by plating<br />

on solid surfaces, and o<strong>the</strong>r fission products will<br />

be removed in processing (fluorination) before <strong>the</strong><br />

t<br />

a<br />

w<br />

r<br />

lo3<br />

I O0<br />

246<br />

salt reaches <strong>the</strong> still. Removal of fission products<br />

by plating and gas stripping was taken into account<br />

by assigning appropriate residence times, Tz, for<br />

volatile or noble elements. After withdrawal from<br />

<strong>the</strong> reactor, <strong>the</strong> fuel salt was assumed to be re-<br />

tained in a hold tank for 12 hr, after which specified<br />

fractions of elements havjng volatile fluorides were<br />

removed. The remaining fission products were<br />

<strong>the</strong>n allowed to decay for an additional 12 hr be-<br />

fore entering <strong>the</strong> still.<br />

Figure 23.1 shows fuel salt heat-generation<br />

rates calculated for various times after removal<br />

from <strong>the</strong> reactor. ‘These calculations were made<br />

with MSRK design conditions: 2220 Mw (<strong>the</strong>rmal),<br />

3.7 x iO14 neutrons sec-’ cm-’, cote volume of<br />

9400 liters, fuel salt volume of 25,400 liters, and<br />

4.5 x lo6 sec (52 days) processing cycle. The<br />

uppermost curve represents no fission product re-<br />

moval in <strong>the</strong> reactor or in <strong>the</strong> fluorinator. ‘The<br />

next lower solid curve represents Kr and Xe re-<br />

moval from <strong>the</strong> reactor with a 30-sec residence<br />

time, and <strong>the</strong> lowest solid curve represents re-<br />

moval of Kr and Xe (30-sec residence) along with<br />

removal of Mo, Tc, Ru, X

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