Depletion analysis on long-term operation of the conceptual Molten Salt Actinide Recycler & Transmuter (MOSART) by using a special sequence based on SCALE6/TRITON

Abstract

A special sequence based on SCALE6/TRITON was developed to perform fuel cycle analysis of the Molten Salt Actinide Recycler & Transmuter (MOSART), with emphasis on the simulation of its dynamic refueling and salt reprocessing scheme during long-term operation. MOSART is one of conceptual designs in the molten salt reactor (MSR) category of the Generation-IV systems. This type of reactors is distinguished by the use of liquid fuel circulating in and out of the core, which offers many unique advantages but complicates the modeling and simulation of core behavior using conventional reactor physics codes. The TRITON control module in SCALE6 can perform reliable depletion and decay analysis for many reactor physics applications due to its problem-dependent cross-section processing and rigorous treatment of neutron transport. In order to accommodate a simulation of on-line refueling and reprocessing scenarios, several in-house programs together with a run script were developed to integrate a series of stepwise TRITON calculations; the result greatly facilitates the neutronics analyses of long-term MSR operation. Using this method, a detailed reexamination of the MOSART operation in 30 years was performed to investigate the neutronic characteristics of the core design, the change of fuel salt composition from start-up to equilibrium, the effects of various salt reprocessing scenarios, the performance of actinide transmutation, and the radiotoxicity reduction. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.s.