Russia’s Rosatom on 2 March announced a tender for the development and demonstration of key technological solutions for the creation of a research molten salt reactor with a used nuclear fuel reprocessing module. The cost of the work planned for 2021 is estimated at RUB369 million ($5m), and the funds will be allocated from the federal budget. Applications from tenderers are accepted until 24 March. The purpose of the work is “development and demonstration of key technological solutions for a reactor with circulating fuel based on molten salts of lithium and beryllium fluorides with a fuel salt processing module for transmutation of long-lived actinides”, according to the tender documentation.
By 1 December, the winner must develop and test software for neutron-physical calculation of a molten salt reactor with detailed consideration of nuclide kinetics, fuel salt circulation, distribution of energy release and dose loads on structural and in-vessel materials.
The working group will have to develop technologies for the pilot production of alloys for experimental installations and experimentally determine the corrosion-mechanical resistance of the structural material of the fuel and intermediate circuits of the reactor. In addition, patent research must be carried out on the state of the art and development trends, as well as on the patent purity and patentability of the results.
Companies that have already had experience in the development of technological solutions for the management of used nuclear fuel and nuclear materials will be admitted to the tender. At the same time, the value of contracts concluded by the participants over the past five years should total at least RUB350 million.
A liquid salt reactor or molten salt reactor is a fission reactor in which the basis of the coolant is a mixture of molten salts, which can operate at high temperatures (600-700)° C, while remaining at low pressure and exceeding the boiling point of the molten salt ... One of the advantages of the reactor is a small core, which requires fewer shielding materials.
