Proposal of Application of a Simple Analysis Code DYMOS for Accident Analyses of Molten Salt Reactors

Abstract

The Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) possesses unique characteristics, including the circulation of liquid fuel salt in-core and ex-core, and the absence of cladding tubes of fuel rods. To perform safety analyses for accidents and transients, the selection of appropriate models is crucial. Proposed models vary from the coupling of a three-dimensional (3-D) nuclear reactor model and a detailed thermal/hydraulic (T/H) model to a simple point reactor model coupled with a lumped parameter model of the T/H system. The authors have been investigating the development of a simple and accurate model that can be utilized during the design stage and licensing evaluation, while also providing transparency, which means that models can be easily understandable by experts and reproduced in licensing evaluation. Given the distinctive features of the MSR, the peak heat flux or fuel cladding peak temperature is not a requirement. Instead, the most decisive parameter for safety evaluations is the fuel salt temperature in the fuel salt boundary. As demonstrated in this paper, the outlet of the MSR core consistently displays the highest temperature. Based on the afore-mentioned prospects for both nuclear and T/H systems, the authors have developed a simple safety and transient analysis code for MSR (DYMOS). The DYMOS code has been verified for MSRE experiments, as described in this paper. However, the previous verification was limited to small experimental MSRs, and there is a lack of verification for large reactor systems. This paper shows that the DYMOS code is applicable to these larger reactors. In other words, the main objective of this article is not to claim the originality of the model of DYMOS code, but to propose applicability of such simple code to large reactor systems.