ORNL Aircraft Nuclear Power Plant Designs

Importance of Molten Salt Electrochemical Processes for Energy Conversion and Storage

“…As this brief listing of possibilities already suggests, there are various potential roles for molten salts in future nuclear generation systems. These roles include the molten salt nuclear reactor as such, the use of a molten salt blanket for the nuclear fusion reactor [6] , valuable materials recovery via molten salt extraction processes from a decommissioned nuclear reactor, the pyrochemical process for a U-Pu nuclear fuel cycle [7] [8] , and molten salts as a heat transfer/storage medium. There are various specific possibilities for MSEP to play an active role.…”

Reactor implications of laser-ignited fusion

“…In the Blascon device [3] a free-standing vortex is formed by rotating a lithium pool about a vertical axis. The neutron flux and energy seen by the stationary structure will be very low because of the thick lithium inner layer, with the advantages that the radiation damage and build-up of radioactive impurities normally expected in the structure are reduced.…”

“…Several inertially-confined laser-ignited thermonuclear reactor (ICLITR) appraisals have appeared in the last year [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The conclusions of these studies range from pessimism to optimism, and it therefore seems worth while reviewing differences in the underlying assumptions.…”