Molten Salt Reactor Species Transport

Insoluble fission product & corrosion product generation, behavior, and transport have a significant effect on reactor neutronics and thermal-hydraulics which require new modeling capabilities for Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs). Main objective of this research is developing and coupling mesoscale and system level models for species transport to replicate and simulate possible multiphysics effects caused by species transport. This research must tackle several key challenges:

  • Species/chemical concentration changes through fission and mass transfer in ionic fuel-salt changes the thermochemical state of fuel-salt which drive surface corrosion/deposition of insoluble species.
  • Deposition of insoluble species causes multiphysics effects in reactor including the generation of circulating bubbles/voids which cause power blips in the reactor, effect source term generation in the off-gas system, and can cause localized decay heat regions.
  • Understanding and determining the impact of these multiphysics effects on the reactor are critical for future design considerations and mitigation strategies to ensure safe reactor designs during normal reactor operation and accident condition scenarios.
Graphic of Molten Salt Reactor Species Transport
Back to top