Thorium in de Gesmolten Zout Reactor 30-1-2015 Jan Leen Kloosterman TU-Delft Delft University of Technology Challenge the future Reactor Institute Delft Research on Energy and Health with Radiation 2 1
3 Research Themes (1) Energy solar cells batteries }Materials research hydrogen storage nuclear reactors 4 2
Research Themes (2) Health radiation and radioactive nuclides for therapy radiation and radioactive nuclides for diagnostics radiation detection systems for imaging new production routes for radionuclides 5 Simeon de pilaarheilige, Simeon Stylites, Carel Willink, 1939 7 3
World population 11 billion population / million year 8 World population and energy use Country Population (million) Electricity (kwh/cap) World 6958 2933 1.88 OECD 1241 8226 4.28 China 1351 3312 2.03 Asia 2313 823 0.69 Africa 1045 592 0.67 Energy (Mtoe/cap) IEA, Key world energy statistics, 2013 data from 2011 9 4
Energy demand by region WEO 2014 10 CO2 concentration CO 2 in 2100 (with business as usual) Double pre-industrial CO 2 700 600 CO 2 now 500 400 CO 2 concentration (ppm) 10 Last 160,000 years (from ice cores) and the next 100 years 300 0 200 Temperature difference from now C 10 100 160 120 80 40 Now 11 Time (thousands of years) Source: IPCC 5
Physics of Nuclear Energy 13 Elements, atoms and more Atoms Electrons Protons Neutrons 14 6
Uranium isotopes Very stable, but not fissile Less stable, but fissile Good fuel 99,3% 0,7% 15 Nuclear fission Radio-active U n X Y n 200 MeV CH 2O CO 2H O 8eV 235 4 2 2 2 16 7
Fossils equivalent to 1 gram of U235 Gasoline Coal 2500 liter 3000 kg 17 Moderation and Enrichment 20 8
Moderation 21 Enrichment by Centrifuge 96% U-238 5% U-235 99.3% U-238 0.7% U-235 Cascade of ultracentrifuges 23 9
neutron U-235 Moderator U-238 U-235 U-239 Moderator Np-239 U-238 Pu-239 January 30, 2015 24 Pu-239 24 Nuclear Power Plants UVA, March 16, 2011 vision from 1939 26 10
Pressurized Water Reactor 27 Fuel pellets Contain 4% Uranium-235 and 96% Uranium-238. 28 11
Boiling Water Reactor 30 Feedback coefficients U-235 Moderator Moderator feedback Doppler feedback U-238 U-235 1) Stable system Pu-239 2) Loss of coolant stops fission chain reaction 3) Loss of moderation stops fission chain reaction 33 12
Vervalwarmte productie 34 Containments nuclear power plant Fuel rod Primary system (steel) Containments (2x concrete+steel) 38 13
Nuclear waste production 41 U-235 Moderator U-238 U-235 Higher actinides Pu Am Fission products 42 14
Radiotoxicity of LWR spent fuel 10 9 10 8 10 7 Actinides Fiss Prods Ore Radiotoxicity (Sv) 10 6 10 5 10 4 10 3 10 2 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 Storage time (a) 43 51 15
Thorium in MSR or LFTR Thorium Fission products 52 Breeding with thorium U-233 Moderator Th232 U-233 Pa233 U-233 53 16
Radiotoxicity of LWR spent fuel 10 9 10 8 10 7 Actinides Fiss Prods Ore Radiotoxicity (Sv) 10 6 10 5 10 4 10 3 10 2 10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 Storage time (a) 54 Radiotoxicity of MSR 55 17
Fuel cycle MSR Thorium Splijtingsproducten 58 Heat Transfer Reactor Experiments 1 and 2 (1956) HTRE-1 (20 MWth) 59 18
Heat Transfer Reactor Experiment 3 (1958-1960) HTRE-3 (30 MWth) 60 Hangar Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program, Idaho 61 19
Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) 1965-1969 62 China: TMSR 63 20
USA: Transatomic Power 64 Canada: Terrestrial Energy 65 21
Europe: Molten Salt Fast Reactor 66 MSFR Reactor design parameters Working parameters: High temperature (750 0 C) Low pressure (1 bar) Circulation time (4 sec) LiF-ThF4-UF4-(TRU)F3 (77.5-6.6-12.3-3.6 mol%). Online processing / fueling Three loops 67 22
MSR/thorium research @ TU Delft D.J. Journée, Helium bubbling in a Molten Salt Fast Reactor, A flotation process, Delft (2014). Chris Graafland, Modeling and analysis of a depressurized loss of forced cooling event in a thorium fueled high temperature reactor, Delft (2014). L.L.W. Frima, Burnup in a Molten Salt Fast Reactor, Delft (2013). R. van Bremen, Water ingress scenario analyses of a thorium fuelled HTR, Delft (2013). K. Nagy, Dynamics and Fuel Cycle Analysis of a Moderated Molten Salt Reactor, Delft (2012). D.A. Rodriguez Sanchez, Safety analysis of a thorium-fueled High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor, Delft (2012). E. van der Linden, Coupled Neutronics and Computational Fluid Dynamics for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor, Delft (2012). Jacques Verrue, Ding Ming and Jan Leen Kloosterman, Thorium utilization in a small and long-life HTR, Delft (2011). R.J.S. van't Eind, Simulation of Fast Molten Salt Reactor, Delft (2011). F. de Vogel, Parametric Studies on the Moderation Ratio of a 2-zone 1-fluid Molten Salt Reactor, Delft (2011). M.W. Hoogmoed, Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis for the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor using the SCALE and ERANOS Code Systems, Internship Grenoble (2010). M.W. Hoogmoed, A Coupled Calculation Code System for the Thorium Molten Salt Reactor, Delft (2009). G. Rodigari, Application of the Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis to the Delayed Neutron Parameters in a Molten Salt Reactor, Delft (2008). 68 TU Delft: RESTORE & MASTER RESTORE: Research Thorium Reactor Similar to Oak Ridge MSRE Low power < 10 MWth Helium bubbling No further salt cleaning Thermal neutron spectrum Graphite moderated Operation with enriched uranium Conversion of thorium to U-233 69 23
TU Delft: RESTORE & MASTER MASTER: Molten-Actinide Salt Thorium Energy Reactor Medium power 1000 MWth Helium bubbling to extract GFP and noble metals Salt cleaning by fluorination and reductive extraction processes Operation with thorium breeder fuel cycle 70 Conclusions A Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) has a completely new safety philosophy: let the fuel expand and flow! The Molten Salt Reactor contains no volatile fission products The Molten Salt Reactor can recycle plutonium and americium of other reactors Thorium in a MSR produces much less long-lived nuclear waste Thorium in a MSR can produce all electricity consumed worldwide for many tens of thousands of years 71 24