22.033 Cor e Gr oup - R eact or Concep t and Decision Making
Pr ocess
R obert Dr enkhahn Br endan Ensor Jessic a Hammond Ruaridh Macdonal d
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Ov er vie w
• Final Deci si on
• R eact or C oncep ts
• Choice Jus ti fi c a ti on
• Mo ving F or w ar d
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Final Decision
• Lead Cooled F as t R eact or
• Super crit ic al C O2 Sec ondary Loop
• Looking a t r ang e of siz es >5 00 M W e (desi gned t o dim ini shi ng r e tur ns t o sc ale)
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R eact or Concepts
• Super crit ic al W a t er/C O2
• T r a v elli ng W a v e
• Molt en Salt
• CA NDU
• V er y High T emper a tur e R eact or (VH TR)
• Sodium F as t R eact or (SFR)
• Lead F as t R eact or (SFR)
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Super critic al Coola n t R eact or
• Super crit ic al W a t er R eact or
– One of the Gen IV r eac t or desi gns
– Ex cell en t hea t tr ans f e r , no boi li ng in c or e
– 2 0 MP a , 550 o C
– Hi gh Thermal t o E lectri c E f fici ency (~45%)
– V ery si mp le B WR - esq ue des ign
– Ma t eri als c oncerns
– Super criti c al C O 2 Op tion s
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T r a v elling W a v e R eact or
– Br eed a nd Burn c oncep t
• St art with some enric hed Ur anium t o g et c or e c ritic al a t some loc a tion
• Then thr ough neutr on ab sorp tion U - 23 8 bec omes P u - 23 9 which then fissio ns c ausing the same thing t o mo r e U- 238
– Long lif e, on - li ne r e fuel in g
– P ot en ti al t o use “un w an t ed” fuel
– Pr oli f er a tion c oncern
– Not the t emp er a tur es w e w er e looki ng f or
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Molt en Sa lt
• Ab le t o sc ale t o man y desir ed p o w er le v els
• No hi gh pr essu r e – elim ina t es need f or a pr ess uri z er
• Ex tr emely high neg a ti v e t emper a tur e c oe f fi cien t
• Br eeder R eact or wit h Thori um w ould be e x tr emely c os t e f f ectiv e
• Man y haz ar dous ma t erial s such as HF and Be
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CANDU
• Ab le t o use v arious ple n ti ful sour ces of fuel
• Hea v y W a t er Moder a t or is an e xpensiv e c apit al c os t
• Moder a t or is unpr essu riz ed, thi nner fuel bundl e tubes
• Al r eady op er a ti onal in se v er al na ti ons
• T emper a tur e R equir emen ts f or th is pr oject w er e t oo high f or CAN DU
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Very High Tempera ture Reactor (VHTR)
Qu ick F acts:
( http://www.gen-4.org/Technology/systems/vhtr.htm )
Courtesy of Idaho National Laboratory. Used with permission.
• Pr im ar y Coolan t: Hel ium • Neutro n Spe ctrum: Therm al
• Mod er a t or: Gr aph it e • Ef fi ci e ncy: >50%
• Neutr on Spectrum: Ther m al • Fue l O pti ons: Sp her i ca l or
• Ou tle t T em per a tur es: up t o 1 00 0˚C
Pri sma ti c
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V er y High T empe r a tur e R eact or (VHTR )
Notable Fe ature s:
• Coate d Fuel P ar ti cl e s
• P assi v e Sa fet y F e ature s
• V e ry Hi gh T e mp e r ature s
Courtesy of Idaho National Laboratory. Used with permission.
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• Gener al
SFR a nd LFR Designs
• F as t spectr um – possible in t er gr a tio n in t o clo sed fu el cy cle
• Ex cell en t ther mal pr oper tie s
• Lar g e hea t sink, easier c ool ing , sm all f oot prin t,
• Lo w pr essur e
• P assiv e saf ety
SFR LFR
Mini mal modera tio n Mini mal modera tio n Low mel tin g poi nt High bo il in g poi nt
Operation al experienc e Range of s cal es
High er temp. pos si bl e
V ol ati le materi al
Some ac tivati on Dif fic ul t st art - up
Som e act ivation
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Mini mal US experi enc e
Neut ronics
Bot h very go od
Com parison
Minimal mode ration an d voiding, bu rn
actin ides
Could have positive breed ing r atio Na a nd LBE bo th activa te
Thermal
Sod ium prob ab ly slightly b ett er Le ad requ ires >328 ° C start - up
Oth er
Le ad isn't a s vola tile
No int ermedia te loop requ ired w/ lead Le ad can corrod e st ee l
R eact or Design Choice R easoning
• Comp act Siz e/Small F ootpri n t
• Sa f e ty F ea tur es
• Therm al Pr opert ies
• V arie ty of P ow er Le v els
• Ex otic Desi gn - Ques ti ons t o be ans w er ed/In t er es ti ng t o w ork on
• Na tur al Cir cula ti on P ossi bil it ies
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Looking F or w ar d - Cor e
• Lead vs . Lead- Bi sm uth Coolan t
• Begin Modeli ng R eact or i n MC NP
• R eact or P ow er Decis ion
• Ma t erial Choices
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Looking F or w ar d - Plan t
• Lead t o C O2 Hea t Ex chang er
• Super crit ic al C O2 Vi abil it y
• T urbi nes
• Split poin t f or Pr ocess Hea t
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QUE S TIONS?
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MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu
22.033 / 22.33 Nuclear Systems Design Project
Fa ll 2011
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