Seminar: Fluoride Salt Cooled High Temperature Reactor Thermal Hydraulic Analysis and Experimentation at ORNL

Abstract:

The Fluoride Salt Cooled High Temperature Reactor (FHR) is a concept that has its roots embedded in the original Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) designs that were developed and tested in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s at ORNL. However, the FHR differs from MSRs in that it does not use fuel dissolved in the fluoride salt, but rather uses solid fuel that is cooled by the salt. The FHR concept was initially proposed in 2001 by a team consisting of ORNL, Sandia National Laboratories, and the University of California, Berkeley. Many variations of the original concept have been proposed since then, however all have two things in common: 1) high temperature fuel and 2) low pressure coolant, leading to high efficiency power conversion, and lower capital cost.  Two major FHR concepts have been studied at ORNL: a large FHR reactor design called the Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR) and a small reactor design called SmAHTR. Thermal Hydraulic analysis of these concepts has focused on transient decay heat rejection and core fluid/thermal behavior. Experimental projects have been used to support the development of the FHR concept. These include study of fluidic diode performance, small-scale fluoride salt experimentation to study optical measurement techniques in salts, construction of a liquid salt test loop, design of instrument calibration test stands, etc.  This presentation will provide a brief history of the FHR concept and discuss the thermal hydraulic design and experimental efforts ongoing at ORNL.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Yoder is the group leader of the Thermal Hydraulics and Irradiation Engineering Group within the Reactor and Nuclear Systems Division at ORNL. He has a broad background in the areas of thermal science and transport phenomena and over 30 years of experience in thermal/fluids analysis and experimentation. This includes the design, construction and operation of both large- and small-scale experimental systems, development and analysis of novel thermal/fluid devices, development of research reactor and accelerator based neutron sources, and nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulic design and safety analysis. His group is presently involved in the areas of: nuclear reactor design and safety in support of both DOE and NRC programs, fusion reactor cooling water system design supporting the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, and fuel and materials irradiation experimental design supporting several government and private organizations, among others. The group presently has responsibility for thermal hydraulic development of the Advanced High Temperature Reactor at ORNL.

Hosted by Professor Xiaodong Sun