2011 Particle Accelerator Conference - List of Authors (Bowman, C.)

Paper	Title	Page
THP034	Accelerators for Subcritical Molten Salt Reactors	2181
	R.P. Johnson Muons, Inc, Batavia, USA C. Bowman ADNA, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
	Funding: Supported in part by Accelerator Technologies Inc. Accelerator parameters for subcritical reactors that have been considered in recent studies * are based on using solid nuclear fuel much like that used in all operating critical reactors as well as the thorium-burning accelerator-driven energy amplifier proposed by Rubbia et al. An attractive alternative reactor design that used molten salts was experimentally studied at ORNL in the 1960s, where a critical molten salt reactor was successfully operated using enriched U235 or U233 tetrafluoride fuels . These experiments give confidence that an accelerator-driven subcritical molten salt reactor will work as well or better than conventional reactors, having better efficiency due to their higher operating temperature and having the inherent safety of subcritical operation. Moreover, the requirements to drive a molten salt reactor are considerably relaxed compared to a solid fuel reactor, especially regarding accelerator reliability and spallation neutron targetry, to the point that the required technology exists today. http://www.er.doe.gov/hep/files/pdfs/ADSWhitePaperFinal.pdf http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_amplifier * Paul N. Haubenreich and J. R. Engel, Nuc. Apps & Tech, 8, Feb. 1970

Paper

Title

Page

Accelerators for Subcritical Molten Salt Reactors

2181

R.P. Johnson
Muons, Inc, Batavia, USA
C. Bowman
ADNA, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

Funding: Supported in part by Accelerator Technologies Inc.
Accelerator parameters for subcritical reactors that have been considered in recent studies * are based on using solid nuclear fuel much like that used in all operating critical reactors as well as the thorium-burning accelerator-driven energy amplifier ** proposed by Rubbia et al. An attractive alternative reactor design that used molten salts was experimentally studied at ORNL in the 1960s, where a critical molten salt reactor was successfully operated using enriched U235 or U233 tetrafluoride fuels ***. These experiments give confidence that an accelerator-driven subcritical molten salt reactor will work as well or better than conventional reactors, having better efficiency due to their higher operating temperature and having the inherent safety of subcritical operation. Moreover, the requirements to drive a molten salt reactor are considerably relaxed compared to a solid fuel reactor, especially regarding accelerator reliability and spallation neutron targetry, to the point that the required technology exists today.
* http://www.er.doe.gov/hep/files/pdfs/ADSWhitePaperFinal.pdf
** http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_amplifier
*** Paul N. Haubenreich and J. R. Engel, Nuc. Apps & Tech, 8, Feb. 1970