Numerical Investigation of Freeze Valve Melting Behavior in Molten Salt Reactor using OpenFOAM

Abstract

Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) used a freeze valve to handle accident conditions when the reactor overheated and the active safety control systems failed. The freeze valve will melt if the reactor core temperature increases and exceeds the freeze valve’s melting temperature. In this research, a numerical investigation of freeze valve melting behavior was conducted. Freeze valve geometry used geometry proposed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) and also used in test loop facility in Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) to develop Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR). The material used FLiNaK salt (LiF-NaF-KF, 46.5-11.5-42.0 mol %). Numerical calculation performs using OpenFOAM. BuoyantPimpleFoam was used to analyze the heat transfer mechanism. Isothermal phase-change simulated by adding solidificationMeltingSource terms into fvOptions as a flexible framework in OpenFOAM.