ORNL-4191 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site
ORNL-4191 - the Molten Salt Energy Technologies Web Site
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