Nuclear safety analysis of a molten salt breeder reactor

Abstract

An analysis is made of the nuclear safety of a Molten Salt Breeder Reactor (MSBR) using one point kinetics model, with particular attention to the fact that the MSBR, operating on233U-Th with circulating fuel, has a very small effective delayed neutron fraction, which is conducive to a very high power increase being induced by reactivity addition, particularly when applied sharply. The analysis proves that the transient phenomena of MSBR initiated by an abnormal reactivity addition do not exceed the bounds of structural safety, in virtue of the very favorable nuclear and thermal characteristics of the MSBR. © 1978 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.