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 1504 adjusts fast neutron flux and thermal neutron flux within the reactor core during the sustained nuclear fission reaction by inserting a neutron moderating member into the neutron reflector assembly. Insertion of a neutron moderating member may introduce nuclei into the reflector assembly that may tend to cause elastic collisions with fast neutrons. The presence of these nuclei may scatter thermal neutrons back into the nuclear reactor core, thus increasing burnup. Adjusting operation 1504 may also have an effect on the neutron reflectivity characteristics of the neutron reflection assembly because the neutron moderating member will displace a volume of flowing neutron reflector material from the neutron reflector assembly. The decrease in volume of flowing neutron reflector material will tend to decrease the amount of elastic collisions with neutrons emanating from the nuclear reactor core, thus reducing the likelihood of scattering fast neutrons emanating from the nuclear reactor core back into the reactor core to breed fertile material into fissile material.
