Dual Fluid Reactor Online Reprocessing via Segmented Loops
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current nuclear reactor designs face limitations in achieving online fuel reprocessing without shutdown, high operating temperatures for process chemistry applications, and efficient heat transfer, particularly in systems with high power density, leading to increased capital costs and neutron economy challenges.
Innovation Solution
The Dual Fluid Reactor (DFR) design separates the fuel loop from the coolant loop, allowing for online reprocessing and using liquid metals as coolants to achieve high temperatures and power densities, along with direct-contact heat exchangers for efficient heat transfer, enabling continuous fuel processing and compact accelerator-driven systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If liquid fuel is used as coolant in MSR, then continuous online reprocessing is enabled and core molten down accidents are prevented, but operating temperature is limited and high electric conversion efficiency cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the reactor system into two separate loops: a primary loop with liquid metal coolant for heat transfer and a secondary loop with liquid fuel for nuclear reactions and reprocessing. This segmentation allows each loop to operate at optimal temperatures independently, resolving the contradiction between reliability (online reprocessing) and operating temperature.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a heat exchanger as an intermediary between the liquid metal coolant loop and the liquid fuel loop. This intermediary enables efficient heat transfer from the high-temperature primary loop to the secondary loop, allowing the fuel loop to operate at lower temperatures while the coolant loop achieves high temperatures for improved electric conversion efficiency.
2Use of energy by moving object
If indirect heat exchangers are used in high power density reactors, then heat transfer from primary coolant is achieved, but heat exchanger size becomes ten times larger than reactor vessel, increasing capital costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the heat exchanger function directly into the reactor vessel structure. The fuel ducts are positioned within the reactor vessel such that heat transfer occurs through the vessel walls themselves, eliminating the need for separate external heat exchangers. This integration reduces the heat exchanger volume from ten times the reactor vessel size to a compact design within the vessel.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from external heat exchangers to internal heat transfer surfaces by positioning fuel ducts within the reactor vessel. This dimensional reorganization allows heat transfer to occur through the vessel walls and internal structures, dramatically reducing the volume required for heat exchange while maintaining high power density.
3Power
If liquid metal coolant is used, then high power density and high operating temperature are achieved, but direct contact between coolant and fuel requires separation barriers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the reactor into distinct zones: a primary loop with liquid metal coolant for heat transfer and a secondary loop with liquid fuel for nuclear reactions. Fuel ducts serve as physical separators between the two loops, allowing each to operate independently at optimal conditions without requiring complex separation barriers at contact points.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses fuel ducts and heat exchanger surfaces as intermediaries between the liquid metal coolant and liquid fuel. These intermediaries enable thermal coupling between the two loops while maintaining physical separation, avoiding the need for complex separation barriers and allowing high power density operation.
4Adaptability or versatility
If fuel loop and coolant loop are combined in MSR, then advantages of liquid fuel and high boiling point coolant are united, but material restrictions limit operating temperature for process chemistry applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system into a primary coolant loop and a secondary fuel loop, allowing each to be optimized for its specific function. The primary loop uses liquid metal for high-temperature heat transfer suitable for process chemistry applications, while the secondary loop uses liquid fuel for nuclear reactions and online reprocessing, resolving the material restrictions that limited MSR operating temperatures.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention describes a nuclear reactor with a loop for liquid nuclear fuel, which, contrary to similar systems like the Molten-Salt Reactor of the Generation-IV canon, does not use the fuel loop for the heat transport at the same time. Instead, cooling is provided by an additional coolant loop, which is intensively coupled to the nuclear fuel duct for heat transport. That way, the advantages of liquid fuel can be utilized while optimizing the coolant loop performance, so the complexity of safety systems can be reduced significantly. This reactor design further includes an optimized neutron economy and is able to deactivate long-lived fission products generated by its own, so only short-lived radiotoxic waste has to be stored. With the neutron surplus it is also possible to deactivate long-lived radiotoxic waste from used fuel of today's light water reactors or to produce medical radioisotopes.