Continuous removal of fission products from molten-salt fueled nuclear reactors
AssigneeMuons, Inc.
InventorsRolland Paul Johnson, Thomas J. Roberts, Bruce Kevin McNamara, Robert Bruce Vogelaar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An example for continuous removal of fission products from a molten-salt fueled nuclear reactor enclosed in a reactor containment may include separating actinides from other fission products flowing out of the reactor, returning the separated actinides back to the reactor to be consumed, and removing the other fission products out of the containment while the reactor is operating. In various embodiments, the reactor can be a critical reactor, a subcritical (e.g., accelerator-drive) reactor, or another type of reactor.
Claims9
A method for continuous removal of fission products from a nuclear reactor enclosed in a reactor containment, the method comprising:
- producing a side stream of a molten-salt fuel flowing out of the reactor, the side stream including actinides and other fission products and allowing for continuous access to the fuel within the reactor containment while the reactor is operating;
- treating the side stream to isolate the actinides and produce side stream remnants within the reactor containment, the side stream remnants including the other fission products;
- injecting the treated side stream including the isolated actinides back into the reactor for power generation and destruction of the isolated actinides in the reactor;
- and
- removing the side stream remnants from the reactor containment continuously while the reactor is operating.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.