Licensing Considerations of a Fluoride Salt Cooled High Temperature Test Reactor

The Fluoride salt cooled High temperature Reactor (FHR) is an innovative reactor concept that uses high temperature TRISO fuel with a low-pressure liquid salt coolant. Design of Fluoride salt cooled High temperature Test Reactor (FHTR) is a key step in the development of the FHR technology and is currently in progress both in China and United States. An FHTR based on pebble bed core design with coolant temperature 600–700 °C is being planned for construction by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP). This paper provides a preliminary thermal hydraulic licensing analysis of an FHTR using SINAP’s pebble core design as a reference case. The operation limits based on criteria outlined in U.S. regulatory guidelines are evaluated. Limiting Safety System Settings (LSSS) considering uncertainties for forced convection operation are obtained. The LSSS power and coolant outlet temperature are 24.6 MW and 720 °C, respectively.