Molten Salt Reactors.
Speaker: Dr Mark Ho, ANSTO
DATE & TIME: 5.30 pm for a 6.00 pm start, Wednesday 12 May 2021.
Webinar available.
VENUE: Engineers Australia Mezzanine, 44 Market Street, Sydney, NSW 2000.
Hosted by Engineers Australia Sydney Division Nuclear Engineering Panel.
Slides are available HERE
This is a hybrid event – face to face and webinar.
Abstract
Of the six Gen IV reactor designs under study, Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs) are arguably one of the most exciting for their offering of enhanced safety and versatility in design and purpose. MSRs have a wide choice of:
- solid or liquid fuels,
- thermal or fast neutron spectrum operation
- fuel types: Pu-239, U-235 or U-233 (otherwise known as the
thorium fuel cycle) - and choice of fluoride or chloride-based salts.
Much was learnt from the US molten salt reactor experiment, an 8 MW (th) thermal-neutron, liquid-fuel reactor that operated in Oak Ridge, Tennessee between 1965-1969. During its 11,500 hours of operation, much was learnt of the reactor’s characteristics, including its operational stability at high temperatures over prolonged periods.
Today, MSRs are being revisited by the US, Canada, China, UK and Russia, in multiple billion-dollar private-public ventures, some of which will become operational prototypes within the decade. This talk will cover both past and present developments in MSR designs.
About Dr Mark Ho
Dr Mark Ho is a specialist in reactor thermo-hydraulics at ANSTO. He is interested in reactor designs, computational fluid dynamics, coding and boiling phenomenon. He has supervised over 25 interns, undergraduates, masters and PhD students on the topics of thermohydraulics, nuclear systems & reactor multi-physics modelling and is active member in IAEA discussions on SMRs (Small Modular Reactors). Dr Ho also serves as Vice President of the Australian Nuclear Association, a professional organisation promoting the peaceful, safe and effective use of nuclear science and technology.