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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
M. M. H. Ragheb, R. T. Santoro, J. M. Barnes, M. J. Saltmarsh
Nuclear Technology | Volume 48 | Number 3 | May 1980 | Pages 216-232
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32469
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The nuclear performance of a fusion-fission hybrid reactor having a molten salt composed of Na-Th-F-Be as the blanket fertile material and operating with a catalyzed deuterium-deuterium (DD) plasma is compared to a similar system utilizing a Li-Th-F-Be salt and operating with a deuterium-tritium (DT) plasma. The production of fissile fuel via the 232Th-233U fuel cycle was considered on the basis of its potential nonproliferation aspects. The calculations were performed using one-dimensional discrete-ordinates methods to compare neutron balances, fuel production rates, energy deposition rates, and the radiation damage in the reactor structure. The results indicate that the sodium salt in conjunction with the catalyzed DD plasma represents a viable alternative to the lithium salt and DT plasma. In a reactor consisting of a 42-cm-thick salt compartment followed by a 40-cm-thick graphite reflector, the sodium-salt-catalyzed-DD system exhibits a higher fissile nuclide production potential via Th(n,γ) reactions (0.880 reaction/source neutron) than the lithium-salt-DT system (0.737 reaction/source neutron) without the additional complication of tritium production in the blanket. Energy and material balances for driven fusion systems show that the DT and catalyzed DD options have comparable performances in terms of their capability to support fission reactor satellites with their fissile fuel needs.