A Comprehensive Approach to Molten Salt Reactor Source Term Generation and Shielding Analyses

Abstract

The research presented herein outlines a comprehensive process for characterizing the major radiological source terms necessary for radiation protection and licensing activities that one would expect in a liquid-fueled molten salt reactor. This process leverages organic simulation tools in the SCALE modeling and simulation code suite to provide an “off-the-shelf” solution for shielding assessments of this reactor type. Ultimately, this source development process is applied to a representative molten salt reactor system to assess the impact of ex-core source terms on shielding in varying operating conditions. The results of the analysis determined that while the prompt core source is the major dose contributor outside the radiological shielding, specific ex-core features, such as the primary salt loop components and configuration, can have an appreciable dose impact, and thus must be accounted for.

Keywords:

• Molten salt reactor source terms
• SCALE
• variance reduction
• prompt and delayed neutrons
• neutron and gamma dose rate

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported, in part, by the Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing Research Alliance (NEXTRA) with funding provided by Natura Resources, LLC, as well as through research cyberinfrastructure resources and services provided by the Partnership for an Advanced Computing Environment (PACE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.