A Review of Molten Salt Reactor Multi-Physics Coupling Models and Development Prospects

Jianhui Wu, Jingen Chen (), Xiangzhou Cai, Chunyan Zou, Chenggang Yu, Yong Cui, Ao Zhang and Hongkai Zhao
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Jianhui Wu: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Jingen Chen: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Xiangzhou Cai: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Chunyan Zou: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Chenggang Yu: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Yong Cui: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Ao Zhang: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Hongkai Zhao: Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-28

Abstract: Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are one type of GEN-IV advanced reactors that adopt melt mixtures of heavy metal elements and molten salt as both fuel and coolant. The liquid fuel allows MSRs to perform online refueling, reprocessing, and helium bubbling. The fuel utilization, safety, and economics can be enhanced, while some new physical mechanisms and phenomena emerge simultaneously, which would significantly complicate the numerical simulation of MSRs. The dual roles of molten fuel salt in the core lead to a tighter coupling of physical mechanisms since the released fission energy will be absorbed immediately by the molten salt itself and then transferred to the primary heat exchanger. The modeling of multi-physics coupling is regarded as one important aspect of MSR study, attracting growing attention worldwide. Up to now, great efforts have been made in the development of MSR multi-physics coupling models over the past 60 years, especially after 2000, when MSR was selected for one of the GEN-IV advanced reactors. In this paper, the development status of the MSR multi-physics coupling model is extensively reviewed in the light of coupling models of N-TH (neutronics and thermal hydraulics), N-TH-BN (neutronics, thermal hydraulics, and burnup) and N-TH-BN-G (neutronics, thermal hydraulics, burnup, and graphite deformation). The problems, challenges, and development trends are outlined to provide a basis for the future development of MSR multi-physics coupling models.

Keywords: molten salt reactor; multi-physics model; neutronics and thermal-hydraulic coupling; burnup; graphite dimensional change; helium bubbling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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