COUPLE, A Time-Dependent Coupled Neutronics and Thermal-Hydraulics Code, and its Application to MSFR

Molten salt reactor (MSR) using liquid fuel is one of the Generation-IV candidate reactors. Its liquid fuel characteristics are fundamentally different from those of the conventional solid-fuel reactors, especially the much stronger neutronics and thermal hydraulics coupling is drawing significant attention. In this study, the fundamental thermal hydraulic model, neutronic model, and some auxiliary models were established for the liquid-fuel reactors, and a time-dependent coupled neutronics and thermal hydraulics code named COUPLE was developed to solve the mathematic models by the numerical method. After the code was verified, it was applied to the molten salt fast reactor (MSFR) to perform the steady state calculation. The distributions of the neutron fluxes, delayed neutron precursors, velocity, and temperature were obtained and presented. The results show that the liquid fuel flow affects the delayed neutron precursors significantly, while slightly influences the neutron fluxes. The flow in the MSFR core generates a vortex near the fertile tank, which leads to the maximal temperature about 1100 K at the centre of the vortex. The results can provide some useful information for the reactor optimization.