Principal Investigator Ronald Ballinger
Co-investigators Peter Stahle , Michael Short , Linn Hobbs
A reactor concept called the Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (FHR) has been proposed within the last decade. The FHR is the subject of an Integrated Research Project (IRP) led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin-Madison as partners in the effort. By employing a number of technologies which have never previously been combined in a nuclear plant, the FHR has the potential for safety, economics, and efficiency greater than that of light-water reactors (LWR) and equal to or greater than that of other advanced reactor concepts. The FHR is a graphite moderated, fluoride salt-cooled, thermal-spectrum reactor which employs tri-isotropic (TRISO) coated particle fuel, molten fluoride salts as the primary and intermediate loop coolants, a pool-type design, and an open-air Brayton power conversion cycle.The research in this area is divided into two parts: modeling/simulation and experiment/examinations. The combination of these two thrusts will result in an advanced fuel performance SYSTEM model, benchmarked with as much experimental data as possible, which will allow fuel system performance estimates for the FHR system. The project will develop a model for the chemical interaction and corrosion between flibe and TRISO particles. In addition to the chemical model, the project will develop a model of tritium production, migration, and retention in the TRISO particle, the fuel pebble, and the flibe coolant. The result of these efforts will be the development of an overall fuel SYSTEM model for the FHR. The system-character along with the inclusion of chemical effects and tritium production, migration/holdup and release are unique features of this project. This project will also develop a model for the chemical interaction and corrosion between flibe and TRISO particles. This chemical interaction model will be implemented in an existing fuel performance code called TIMCOAT, which was developed at MIT in the mid-2000s.