Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Sensitivity study of parameters important to Molten Salt Reactor Safety

  • Received : 2022.10.19
  • Accepted : 2023.02.02
  • Published : 2023.05.25
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Abstract

This paper presents a molten salt reactor (MSR) design parameter sensitivity study using a nodal dynamic modelling methodology with explicitly modified point kinetics equation and Mann's model for heat transfer. Six parameters that can impact MSR safety are evaluated. A MATLAB-Simulink model inspired by Thorcon's 550MWth MSR is used for parameter evaluations. A safety envelope was formed to encapsulate power, maximum and minimum temperature, and temperature-induced reactivity feedback. The parameters are perturbed by ±30%. The parameters were then ranked by their subsequent impact on the considered safety envelope, which ranks acceptable parameter uncertainty. The model is openly available on GitHub.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory managed by UT-Battelle LLC (contract number 00OR22725). The work was sponsored through a subcontract with the University of Tennessee from the US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, Advanced Reactor Technologies Molten Salt Reactor Program.

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