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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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NN Asks: What does it take to build a domestic fuel salt supply chain?
Adam Burak
We need facilities capable of converting uranium and thorium feedstocks into salts, as well as a source of thorium, if we are to build a domestic fuel salt supply chain.
Our current supply chain provides a potential pathway to produce one type of fuel salt. The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used uranium trifluoride/uranium tetrafluoride (UF3/4) as fuel in the late 1960s, and some current developers are following suit. Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) made as part of the enrichment process could be reduced to uranium fluoride salts with a +3 or +4 valence state. However, as oxygen and moisture are critical impurities for molten salt, a facility with the capability to properly handle molten salts would be necessary.
Advances in Thermal Hydraulics (ATH 2022)
Technical Session
Wednesday, June 15, 2022|10:15AM–12:00PM PDT|Redondo
Session Chair:
Minghui Chen
Alternate Chair:
Qiuping Lv
Session Organizer:
W. David Pointer
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Modeling of a Nitrate Salt Natural Circulation Loop
Sheng Zhang (Univ. Michigan), Xiaodong Sun (Univ. Michigan)
Paper
Numerical Methodology for Design and Evaluation of Natural Circulation Systems for MSR Applications
J.S. Narváez Arrúa (Politecnico di Milano), A. Cammi (Politecnico di Milano), S. Lorenzi (Politecnico di Milano), P.R. Rubiolo (Univ. Grenoble Alpes)
Determination of Aspect Ratio Influence on Flow and Heat Transfer Behavior in Twisted Elliptical Tubes for Molten Salt Applications
S. Tutwiler (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.), Lane B. Carasik (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.), Dillon R. Shaver (ANL)
Numerical Investigation of Cartridge Heater Performance Applied to the FASTR Main Heater for Molten Chloride Salts
Nolan Goth (ORNL), Thien Nguyen (ORNL), Kevin Robb (ORNL), Ethan Kappes (ORNL)
Investigating Thermal Hydraulics Performance of a New Test Section Designed for the LSTL FLiNaK Using CFD
Ethan Kappes (ORNL), Thien Duy Nguyen (ORNL), Kevin Robb (ORNL)
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