Simulation of radiation dose distribution and thermal analysis for the bulk shielding of an optimized molten salt reactor

The Chinese Academy of Science has launched a thorium-based molten-salt reactor (TMSR) research project with a mission to research and develop a fission energy system of the fourth generation. The TMSR project intends to construct a liquid fuel molten-salt reactor (TMSR-LF), which uses fluoride salt as both the fuel and coolant, and a solid fuel molten-salt reactor (TMSR-SF), which uses fluoride salt as coolant and TRISO fuel. An optimized 2 MWth TMSR-LF has been designed to solve major technological challenges in the Th-U fuel cycle. Preliminary conceptual shielding design has also been performed to develop bulk shielding. In this study, the radiation dose and temperature distribution of the shielding bulk due to the core were simulated and analyzed by performing Monte Carlo simulations and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The MCNP calculated dose rate and neutron and gamma spectra indicate that the total dose rate due to the core at the external surface of the concrete wall was 1.91 μSv/h in the radial direction, 1.16 μSv/h above and 1.33 μSv/h below the bulk shielding. All the radiation dose rates due to the core were below the design criteria. Thermal analysis results show that the temperature at the outermost surface of the bulk shielding was 333.86 K, which was below the required limit value. The results indicate that the designed bulk shielding satisfies the radiation shielding requirements for the 2 MWth TMSR-LF. (authors)