Abstract
The private sector's recent interest in the active development of molten salt reactors has led to the need to develop and test advanced modeling and simulation tools to analyze various advanced reactor types under numerous conditions. This paper discusses the effort undertaken to model the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Molten Salt Breeder Reactor (MSBR) design using ORNL's Shift Monte Carlo code. The MSBR model integrates a Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) MSBR core model with an MCNP model that was generated from a CAD model of the external components and the reactor building, which was subsequently run in Shift. This paper focuses on development of the fully integrated model and its use in performing neutron transport calculations in the reactor cell area. This model is intended to aid in understanding radiological dose conditions during operation, as well as the iron dpa rates in the reactor vessel. The neutron biological dose rates and flux calculated in the reactor cell are much higher in the MSBR than in typical light-water reactors. The implications of these results and future work are also discussed in this paper.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 111381 |
| Journal | Nuclear Engineering and Design |
| Volume | 383 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 2021 |
Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge David Holcomb, Katherine Royston, and Joel Risner at ORNL for their invaluable feedback on this work and paper. This research was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under various programs. The Molten Salt Breeder Reactor CAD model generation, the initial conversion to Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) geometry, and the initial scoping studies on a surrogate MSR transport model were developed under the Molten Salt Reactor Campaign under the direction of A. Louis Qualls, thus laying the groundwork for follow-on activities with Shift. As part of the DOE-NE Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Program Non-LWR Application Drivers Technical Area, which is under the direction of B. Feng, this initial MCNP model was updated and tested to establish a working model, and initial dose calculations were run with the Shift Monte Carlo tool. For the NRC advanced reactor studies conducted under the direction of W. A. Wieselquist, the model was run, and additional analyses were performed with a dedicated, controlled version of SCALE. This diversity of funding sources demonstrates the interest in resolving these types of problems throughout the advanced reactor research and development community. This research used resources of the Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. This research made use of Idaho National Laboratory computing resources which are supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the US Department of Energy and the Nuclear Science User Facilities under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517. This research made use of Idaho National Laboratory computing resources which are supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the US Department of Energy and the Nuclear Science User Facilities under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517. This research used resources of the Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. This research was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under various programs. The Molten Salt Breeder Reactor CAD model generation, the initial conversion to Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) geometry, and the initial scoping studies on a surrogate MSR transport model were developed under the Molten Salt Reactor Campaign under the direction of A. Louis Qualls, thus laying the groundwork for follow-on activities with Shift. As part of the DOE-NE Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Program Non-LWR Application Drivers Technical Area, which is under the direction of B. Feng, this initial MCNP model was updated and tested to establish a working model, and initial dose calculations were run with the Shift Monte Carlo tool. For the NRC advanced reactor studies conducted under the direction of W. A. Wieselquist, the model was run, and additional analyses were performed with a dedicated, controlled version of SCALE. This diversity of funding sources demonstrates the interest in resolving these types of problems throughout the advanced reactor research and development community.
Keywords
- Facility dose
- Hybrid Monte Carlo/Deterministic methods
- Molten salt breeder reactor
- Monte Carlo
- Shift