An Experimental and Numerical Study to Support Development of Molten Salt Breeder Reactor

Conceptual molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR) is under development in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) with long-term objective of utilizing abundant thorium available in India. It is based on molten salts, which acts as fuel, blanket, and coolant for the reactor. LiF–ThF₄ (77.6–22.4 mol %) is proposed as a blanket salt for Indian MSBR. A laboratory scale molten salt natural circulation loop (MSNCL) named molten active fluoride salt loop (MAFL) has been setup for thermal-hydraulic, material compatibility, and chemistry control studies. Steady-states and transient experiments have been performed in the operating temperature range of 600–750 °C. The loop operates in the power range of 250–550 W. Steady-state correlation given for natural circulation flow in a loop is compared with the steady-state experimental data. The Reynolds number was found to be in the range of 57–114. Computation fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation has also been performed for MAFL using openfoam code, and the results are compared with the experimental data generated in the loop. It has been found that predictions of openfoam are in good agreement with the experimental data. In this paper, features of the loop, its construction, and the experimental and numerical studies performed are discussed in detail.