Skip to main content
Elsevier
View Cart

Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy

Molten Salt Reactors is a comprehensive reference on the status of molten salt reactor (MSR) research and thorium fuel utilization. There is growing awareness that nuclear e… Read more

World Book Day celebration

Where learning shapes lives

Up to 25% off trusted resources that support research, study, and discovery.

Explore resources

Description

Molten Salt Reactors is a comprehensive reference on the status of molten salt reactor (MSR) research and thorium fuel utilization.

There is growing awareness that nuclear energy is needed to complement intermittent energy sources and to avoid pollution from fossil fuels. Light water reactors are complex, expensive, and vulnerable to core melt, steam explosions, and hydrogen explosions, so better technology is needed. MSRs could operate safely at nearly atmospheric pressure and high temperature, yielding efficient electrical power generation, desalination, actinide incineration, hydrogen production, and other industrial heat applications.

Coverage includes:

  • Motivation -- why are we interested?

  • Technical issues – reactor physics, thermal hydraulics, materials, environment, …

  • Generic designs -- thermal, fast, solid fuel, liquid fuel, …

  • Specific designs – aimed at electrical power, actinide incineration, thorium utilization, …

  • Worldwide activities in 23 countries

  • Conclusions

This book is a collaboration of 58 authors from 23 countries, written in cooperation with the International Thorium Molten Salt Forum. It can serve as a reference for engineers and scientists, and it can be used as a textbook for graduate students and advanced undergrads.

Molten Salt Reactors

 is the only complete review of the technology currently available, making this an essential text for anyone reviewing the use of MSRs and thorium fuel, including students, nuclear researchers, industrial engineers, and policy makers.

Key features

  • Written in cooperation with the International Thorium Molten-Salt Forum
  • Covers MSR-specific issues, various reactor designs, and discusses issues such as the environmental impact, non-proliferation, and licensing
  • Includes case studies and examples from experts across the globe

Readership

Scientists and engineers doing MSR research; university faculty and students; analysts and policy makers; nuclear energy professionals

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Electricity production economics

3. Other MSR applications

4. Reactor physics

5. MSR kinetics and dynamics

6. Thermal hydraulics

7. Materials

8. Chemical processing of liquid fuel

9. Environment, Waste, and Resources

10. Safeguards and Nonproliferation

11. Liquid fuel, thermal neutron-spectrum reactors

12. Liquid fuel, fast and epithermal neutron spectrum reactors

13. Solid fuel reactors

14. Static liquid fuel reactors

15. Accelerator Driven Systems

16. Fusion-Fission hybrids

17. Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR)

18. Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR)

19. ThorCon Reactor

20. SAMOFAR

21. Stable Salt Fast Reactor

22. Transatomic Power

23. Copenhagen Atomics Waste Burner

24. Molten Salt Thermal Wasteburner

25. Dual Fluid Reactor

26. Research activities-Worldwide case studies

Product details

About the editor

TD

Thomas James Dolan

Professor Dolan has worked on nuclear technology and international relations issues for three universities, five national laboratories and in nine countries, including in his position as Physics Section Head for the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Dolan’s primary research interests are concerned with molten salt fission reactors and nuclear fusion technology. He developed three courses at the University of Missouri-Rolla on fusion research principles, fusion experiments, and fusion technology. As well as the numerous academic positions he has held, he also has experience working in industry (Phillips Petroleum Company) on fusion research and other nuclear topics. As Head of the Physics Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) he helped facilitate international cooperation in fusion research, including organization of the semi-annual IAEA Fusion Energy Conferences. Since then he has taught courses on fusion research at the University of Illinois, in China, and in India.
Affiliations and expertise
Adjunct Professor, Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering Department, University of Illinois, USA

View book on ScienceDirect

Read Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy on ScienceDirect