Molten fuel nuclear reactor with neutron reflecting coolant
摘要
說明書
Reactor core section 106 is designed to maintain a flow of a molten fuel salt 108, wherein such flow is indicated by hollow tip thin arrows as in
As part of the reactor startup operation, the MSR system 100 is loaded with an enriched fuel charge of initial molten fuel, such as uranium-233, uranium-235, or plutonium-239. In one implementation, uranium-235 is used as a startup fuel in the form of PuCl3, UCl4, UCl3, and/or UF6 along with a carrier salt (e.g., NaCl, NaF, etc.). In one example, the initial molten fuel mixture contains enriched uranium at 12.5 w %, although other compositions may be employed. The initial molten fuel circulates through the reactor core section 106 of the MSR system 100, ignited by the criticality or reactivity of thermal neutrons of the enriched uranium. During operation, the initial molten fuel may be augmented by the breed-and-burn processes and by extraction and supplementation of molten fuel salt in varying compositions and amounts, in one approach, to managing the reactivity in the reactor core section 106.
