Improved fuel salt chemistry and fission rate control in a molten salt nuclear reactor

摘要

A fuel salt for a molten salt reactor which minimises volatile fission products and corrosivity of the fuel salt by adding a sacrificial metal such as chromium to the fuel salt or fuel tube and/or adding a silver salt, chromium salt or zirconium salt to the fuel to react with and convert any iodine or tellurium produced into a non volatile form. Also provided is a means of flattening the fission rate across the reactor core by use of a radial, central or axial neutron reflector that partially moderate the energy spectrum of the reflected neutrons and thereby increase the fission rate induced by those reflected neutrons. Furthermore, there is a means of maintaining a uniform fission rate across a reactor core by changing the geometry of the core so that the rate of movement by the fuel tubes changes as a function of the core in a way defined by the geometry.