Fluid Fuel Reactors

The customary approach to reactor development assumes that a reactor is primarily a mechanical engineering device—that the ultimate goal of economically competitive nuclear power will be achieved by simplifying the mechanical design and by making the fuel elements more reliable. The other, basically different, view of reactor technology holds that reactors are chemical plants—that the methods which have proved so useful in rationalizing the chemical industry, i.e., the continuous handling of materials in liquid form; should lead to ultimate economies in reactor plants. This "chemical" approach to reactors has been pursued vigorously in the United States for almost a decade; it is summarized in this volume on fluid fuel reactors.

The basic simplicity of the liquid reactor—the original idea of "a pot, pump, and pipe"—has hardly persisted throughout the years. Those who have actually built and operated high-temperature, high-powered liquid reactors have become impressed with their difficulty—the difficulty primarily of handling vast amounts of radioactivity in labile form. It seems now that liquid reactor systems, when reduced to practice, are in many ways more complicated than their solid competitors; at least their complications (being in the plumbing system) are much more obtrusive than the complications of a solid fuel reactor, which lie out of sight in the core.

Yet in spite of their difficulties, the two underlying motivations for liquid and other fluid systems remain: their fuel cycle is simpler and their neutron economy is better than for solid-fueled reactors. Thus there continues to be strong incentive to develop these systems. It is the belief of fluid fuel enthusiasts that in the very long run the simplification in fuel cycle and, more important, the better neutron economy made possible by the use of fluid fuels will outweigh the difficult handling problems and ultimately weight the balance of reactor development toward these systems.

The present volume contains a summary of the work done in the United States on fluid fuel reactors. The first part deals with the aqueous homogeneous reactor; most of this work has been done at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with some phases of the work (on slurries) at Westinghouse Atomic Power Division and some work on phosphate solutions at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. The second part deals with the fused salt system, which has been investigated primarily at the Oak Ridge Laboratory; the third part deals with the bismuth-uranium system, investigated at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

It is my hope that the results described here will be helpful to all who are interested in fluid fuel systems, and that, by disseminating this information, new ideas and new approaches will be generated to help solve the remaining problems of fluid fuel reactors.

Oak Ridge, Tenn. June 1958

A.M. Weinberg, Director

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Fluid Fuel Reactors

Edited by

JAMES A. LANE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

H. G. MacPHERSON, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

FRANK MASLAN, Brookhaven National Laboratory

PREPARED UNDER CONTRACT WITH THE

UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION

￼

ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

READING, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.



Copyright © 1958 by

ADDISON-WESLEY PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

and assigned to the General Manager

of the United States Atomic Energy Commission





On 2018-11-16 (November 16 of 2018)

the U.S. Department of Energy

owner of Fluid Fuel Reactors copyright

granted Gordon James McDowell

nonexclusive license to republish

and prepare derivative works.

Printed in the United States of America

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS BOOK, OR PARTS THEREOF,

MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM

WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-12600

First Printing, September 1958 (hardcopy)

Digital Editions Commence, January 2019 (v20181227c)

EDITORS' NOTE

In their work on this book the editors and authors were assisted by representatives of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Industrial Information Branch, Technical Information Service. Charles D. McKereghan was book project officer, and DeWitt O. Myatt guided the styling of the art. The Technical Information Service Extension at Oak Ridge put the references in final form.

The references cite a number of publications issued by the Atomic Energy Commission. These are available for inspection at the Commission's depository libraries in the United States and abroad and are sold by the Office of Technical Services, U. S. Department of Commerce, Washington 25, D. C.

The data selected, its evaluation, and the conclusions reached in this book are wholly the work of the authors, contributors, and editors.

June 1958

James A. Lane,

H. G. MacPherson,

Frank Maslan

CONTENTS

Fluid Fuel Reactors - Part I

AQUEOUS HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS

CHAPTER 1

HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS AND THEM DEVELOPMENT

1-1. Background

1-2. General Characteristics of Homogenous Reactors

1-3. U235 Burner Reactors

1-4. Converter Reactors

1-5. Breeder Reactors

1-6. Miscellaneous Homogeneous Types

CHAPTER 2

NUCLEAR CHARACTERISTICS OF ONE- AND TWO-REGION HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS

2-1. Criticality Calculations

2-2. Nuclear Constants Used In Criticality Calculations

2-3. Fuel Concentrations and Breeding Ratios Under Initial and Steady-State Conditions

2-4. Unsteady-State Fuel Concentrations And Breeding Ratios

2-5. Safety And Stability Of Homogeneous Reactors Following Reactivity Additions

CHAPTER 3

ROPERTIES OF AQUEOUS FUEL SOLUTIONS

3-1. Introduction

3-2. Solubility Relationships of Fissile and Fertile Materials

3-3. Radiation Effects

3-4. Physical Properties

CHAPTER 4

TECHNOLOGY OF AQUEOUS SUSPENSIONS

4-1. Suspensions And Their Applications In Reactors

4-2. Uranium Oxide Slurries

4-3. Preparation And Characterization Of Thorium Oxide And Its Aqueous Suspensions

4-4. Engineering Properties

4-5. Operating Experience with the Hre-2 Slurry Blanket Test Facility

4-6. Radiation Stability of Thorium Oxide Slurries

4-7. Catalytic Recombination of Radio Lytic Gases In Aqueous Thorium Oxide Slurries

CHAPTER 5

INTEGRITY OF METALS IN HOMOGENEOUS REACTOR MEDIA

5-1. Introduction

5-2. Experimental Equipment for Determining Corrosion Rates

5-3. Survey of Materials

5-4. Corrosion of Type-347 Stainless Steel in Uranyl Sulfate Solutions

5 5. Radiation-Induced Corrosion of Zircaloy-2 and Zirconium

5-6. Corrosion Behavior of Titanium and Titanium Alloys in Uranyl Sulfate Solutions

5-7. Aqueous Slurry Corrosion

5-8. Homogeneous Reactor Metallurgy

5-9. Stress-Corrosion Cracking

CHAPTER 6

CHEMICAL PROCESSING

6-1. Introduction

6-2. Core Processing: Solids Removal

6-3. Fission Product Gas Disposal

6-4. Core Processing: Solubles

6-5. Core Processing: Iodine

6-6. Uranyl Sulfate Blanket Processing

6-7. Thorium Oxide Blanket Processing

CHAPTER 7

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF EXPERIMENTAL HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS

7-1. Introduction

7-2. Water Boilers

7-3. The Homogeneous Reactor Experiment (HRE-1) [10-13]

7-4. The Homogeneous Reactor Test (Hre-2)

7-5. The Los Alamos Power Reactor Experiments (Lapre 1 And 2)

CHAPTER 8

COMPONENT DEVELOPMENT

8-1. Introduction

8-2. Primary-System Components

8-3. Supporting-System Components

8-4. Auxiliary Components

8-5. Instrument Components

CHAPTER 9

LARGE-SCALE HOMOGENEOUS REACTOR STUDIES

9-1. Introduction

9-2. General Plant Layout and Design

9-3. ONE-REGION U235 BURNER REACTORS

9-4. One-Region Breeders and Converters

9-5. Two-Region Breeders

CHAPTER 10

HOMOGENEOUS REACTOR COST STUDIES

10-1. INTRODUCTION

10-1.1 Relation between cost studies and reactor design factors.

10-1.2 Parametric cost studies at ORNL.

10-2. Bases for Cost Calculations

10-2.1 Fuel costs.

10-2.2 Investment, operating, and maintenance costs.

10-3. Effect Of Design Variables On The Fuel Costs In ThO2-UO3-D2O SYSTEMS [8-10]

10-4. Effect Of Design Variables on Fuel Costs in Uranium-Plutonium Systems

10-5. Fuel Costs in Dual-Purpose Plutonium Power Reactors

10-6. Fuel Costs in U235 Burner Reactors

10-7. Summary of Homogeneous Reactor Fuel-Cost Calculations

10-8. Capital Costs for Large-Scale Plants

10-9. Operating and Maintenance Costs in

Large-Scale Plants

10-10. Summary Of Estimated Power Costs

Fluid Fuel Reactors - Part II

MOLTEN-SALT REACTORS

CHAPTER 11

INTRODUCTION TO MOLTEN SALT REACTORS

CHAPTER 12

CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF MOLTEN-FLUORIDE-SALT REACTOR FUELS

12-1. Choice Of Base Or Solvent Salts

12-2. Fuel And Blanket Solutions

12-3. Physical And Thermal Properties Of Fluoride Mixtures

12-4. Production And Purification Of Fluoride Mixtures

12-5. Radiation Stability Of Fluoride Mixtures

12-6. Behavior Of Fission Products

12-7. Fuel Reprocessing

CHAPTER 13

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS FOR MOLTEN-SALT REACTORS

13-1. Survey Of Suitable Materials

13-2. Corrosion Of Nickel-Base Alloys By Molten Salts

13-3. Fabrication Of INOR-8

13-4. Mechanical And Thermal Properties Of INOR-8

13-5. Oxidation Resistance

13-6. Fabrication Of A Duplex Tubing Heat Exchanger

13-7. Availability Of INOR-8

13-8. Compatibility Of Graphite With Molten Salts And Nickel-Base Alloys

13-9. Materials For Valve Seats And Bearing Surfaces

13-10. Summary Of Material Problems

CHAPTER 14

NUCLEAR ASPECTS OF MOLTEN-SALT REACTORS

14-1. Homogeneous Reactors Fueled With U235

14-2. Homogeneous Reactors Fueled With U233

14-3. Homogeneous Reactors Fueled with Plutonium

14-4. Heterogeneous Graphite-Moderated Reactors

14-4.1 Initial states.

CHAPTER 15

EQUIPMENT FOR MOLTEN-SALT REACTOR HEAT-TRANSFER SYSTEMS

15-1. Pumps for Molten Salts

15-2. Heat Exchangers, Expansion Tanks, And Drain Tanks

15-3. Valves

15-4. System Heating

15-5. Joints

15-6. Instruments

CHAPTER 16

AIRCRAFT REACTOR EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 17

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF A POWER REACTOR

17-1. Fuel And Blanket Systems

17-2. Heat-Transfer Circuits And Turbine Generator

17-3. Remote Maintenance Provisions

17-4. Molten-Salt Transfer Equipment

17-5. Fuel Drain Tank

17-6. Chemical Reprocessing Method

17-7. Cost Estimates

Fluid Fuel Reactors -

Part III

LIQUID-METAL FUEL REACTORS

CHAPTER 18

INTRODUCTION TO LIQUID-METAL FUEL REACTORS

18-1. Background

18-2. General Characteristics Of Liquid Metal Fuel Reactors

18-3. Liquid Metal Fuel Reactor Types

18-4. LMFR Program

CHAPTER 19

REACTOR PHYSICS FOR LIQUID METAL REACTOR DESIGN

19-1. LMFR Parameters

19-2. LMFR Statics

19-3. LMFR Kinetics

CHAPTER 20

COMPOSITION AND PROPERTIES OF

LIQUID-METAL FUELS

20-1. Core Fuel Composition

20-3. Physical Properties Of Solutions

20-4. Fuel Preparation

20-5. Fuel Stability

20-6. Thorium Bismuthide Blanket Slurry

20-6.5 Engineering studies of slurries.

20-7. Thorium Compound Slurries

CHAPTER 21

MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION-METALLURGY

21-1. LMFR Materials

21-1.1 Metals.

21-1.2 Graphite.

21-2. Steels

21-3. Nonferrous Metals

21-4. Bearing Materials

21-5. Salt Corrosion

21-6. Graphite

CHAPTER 22

CHEMICAL PROCESSING

22-1. Introduction

22-2. Volatile Fission Product Removal [20]

22-3. Fused Chloride Salt Process

22-4. Fluoride Volatility Process For Fission Products

22-5. Noble Fission Product Removal

22-6. Blanket Chemical Processing

22-7. Economics Of Chemical Processing

CHAPTER 23

ENGINEERING DESIGN

23-1. Reactor Design

23-2. Heat Transfer

23-3. Component Design

CHAPTER 24

LIQUID METAL FUEL REACTOR DESIGN STUDY

24-1.Comparison Of Two-Fluid And Single-Fluid

LMFR Designs

24-2. Two-Fluid Reactor Design

24-3. Systems Design

24-4. Single-Fluid Reactor Design

24-5. Economics

CHAPTER 25

ADDITIONAL LIQUID METAL REACTORS

25-1. Liquid Metal Fuel Gas-Cooled Reactor

25-2. Molten Plutonium Fuel Reactor

25-3. Liquid Metal-Uranium Oxide Slurry Reactors