Steady state burning of fission products in a fast/thermal molten salt breeding power reactors

Abstract

The long lived fission products of a double power reactor system (fast breeder of 2000 MW(t) and a thermal “burner” MW) are, in the steady state condition, “burnt” in the core of the thermal reactor or “stored” in the core of the fast reactor, so that practically no radioactive wastes (with the exception of T) are released from the system. Such a steady state power system is possible for liquid fuel power reactors (e.g. molten plutonium chlorides for the fast breeder and molten fluorides for the thermal burner).

The neutron fluxes are estimated to be 8–10 × 10¹⁵ × cm⁻² s⁻¹ for the fast core and 3–6 × 10¹⁵ n cm⁻² s⁻¹ for the thermal core with an appropriate volume specific power of 0·22–0·28 MW 1⁻¹ and 1–2 MW 1⁻¹.