Molten fuel nuclear reactor with neutron reflecting coolant
摘要
說明書
The reflection assembly may further be in thermal communication with one or more heat exchangers, and therefore function as a secondary coolant for the reactor core. In one implementation, heat exchangers are thermally coupled to channels for conducting the flowing reflector material. Another implementation may utilize a tube-and-shell heat exchanger wherein a first channel conducts a flowing reflector material in a first direction, and one or more additional channels conduct the flowing reflector material in a second direction through one or more tubes surrounded by flowing molten fuel salt.
An adjusting operation 1304 adjusts fast neutron flux and thermal neutron flux within the reactor core during the sustained nuclear fission reaction by modifying the volume of reflector material in the neutron reflector assembly. In an implementation, volume of a flowing reflector material may be altered by a pump and valve fluidically coupled to a spillover reservoir. A volume of flowing reflector material may be pumped through the valve and into the spillover reservoir to reduce volume of reflector material in the reflection assembly, and thus reduce the flux of fast and/or thermal neutrons scattered into the reactor core. Conversely, a volume of flowing material may be pumped though the valve out of the spillover reservoir to increase volume in the reflector assembly, and thus increase reflectivity of neutrons into the reactor core.
