Merk, Bruno 
ORCID: 0000-0002-9811-4860, Noori-kalkhoran, Omid, Jain, Lakshay, Aflyatunova, Daliya, Jones, Andrew ORCID: 0009-0004-4298-2986, Powell, Lewis, Detkina, Anna ORCID: 0000-0002-0693-9225, Drury, Michael, Litskevich, Dzianis ORCID: 0000-0002-3207-3058, Viebach, Marco et al (show 1 more authors)
(2024)
A Draft Design of a Zero-Power Experiment for Molten Salt Fast Reactor Studies
Energies, 17 (11).
p. 2678.
ISSN 1996-1073, 1996-1073
Abstract
The UK government and many international experts have pointed out that nuclear energy has an important role to play in the transition towards a decarbonised energy system since it is the only freely manageable very low-carbon energy technology with 24/7 availability to complement renewables. Besides current investments in light water reactor technologies, we need innovation for improved fuel usage and reduced waste creation, like that offered by iMAGINE, for the required broad success of nuclear technologies. To allow for quick progress in innovative technologies like iMAGINE and their regulation, a timely investment into urgently needed experimental infrastructure and expertise development will be required to assure the availability of capacities and capabilities. The initial steps to start the development of such a new reactor physics experimental facility to investigate molten salt fast reactor technology are discussed, and a stepwise approach for the development of the experimental facility is described. The down selection for the choice for a diverse control and shutdown system is described through manipulating the reflector (control) and splitting the core (shutdown). The developed innovative core design of having the two core parts in two different rooms opens completely new opportunities and will allow for the manifestation of the request for separated operational and experimental crews, as nowadays requested by regulators into the built environment. The proposed physical separation of safety-relevant operational systems from the experimental room should on the one hand help to ease the access to the facility for visiting experimental specialists. On the other hand, the location of all safety-relevant systems in a now separated access-controlled area for the operational team will limit the risk of misuse through third party access. The planned experimental programme is described with the major steps as follows: core criticality experiments, followed by experiments to determine the neutron flux, neutron spectrum and power distribution as well as experiments to understand the effect of changes in reactivity and flux as a function of salt density, temperature and composition change.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | nuclear, nuclear reactors, experiments, reactor experiments, zero-power experiments, innovative reactors |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science & Engineering Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Engineering Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Physical Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Oct 2024 10:16 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Feb 2026 01:13 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/en17112678 |
| Open Access URL: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/11/2678 |
| Related Websites: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3184935 |
| Disclaimer: | The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate. |
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