The Dual Fluid Reactor is a reactor concept of the Canadian company Dual Fluid Energy Inc. combining the advantages of the

molten salt reactor A molten salt reactor (MSR) is a class of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant and/or the fuel is a molten salt mixture. Only two MSRs have ever operated, both research reactors in the United States. The 1950's ...

with those of the

liquid metal cooled reactor A liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, liquid metal fast reactor or LMFR is an advanced type of nuclear reactor where the primary coolant is a liquid metal. Liquid metal cooled reactors were first adapted for nuclear submarine use and have been ...

, it is supposed to reach the criteria for reactors of the

Generation IV International Forum Generation IV reactors (Gen IV) are six nuclear reactor designs recognized by the Generation IV International Forum. The designs target improved safety, sustainability, efficiency, and cost. The most developed Gen IV reactor design is the sodium ...

. The fuel can be a molten solution of

actinide The actinide () or actinoid () series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium. The actinide series derives its name from the first element in the series, actinium. The info ...

chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride s ...

salts, or it can be pure liquid actinide metal. The cooling is provided by molten

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

in a separate loop. As a

fast breeder reactor A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile mater ...

, the DFR can use both natural

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

and

thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...

to breed fissile material, as well as recycle processed High-level waste and plutonium. Due to the high

thermal conductivity The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low thermal conductivity than in materials of high thermal ...

of the molten metal, the Dual Fluid Reactor is an inherently safe reactor (the decay heat can be removed passively). If the reactor works as intended, the U-238 of a spent nuclear fuel element of a LWR (about 1 ton) could be completely dissolved in Cl-salt, including the problematic long-living transuranic parts. Complete breeding and fission could power a 1 GW thermal Dual Fluid Reactor for about 2.5 years. After that time, the element would be completely converted into fission products and the need for storage in a final deposition for nuclear waste would be reduced from 1 million to about 300 years. DFR characteristic properties

History

The reactor was initially developed by a private German research institute, the Institute for Solid-State Nuclear Physics in Berlin. In February 2021, the six inventors, along with the existing team, formed the Canadian company Dual Fluid Energy Inc. to bring the design to commercial maturity. In June 2021, the company acquired over $6 million in Canadian seed funding. To date, one patent has been obtained on the operating principle of the reactor, and another is pending on the liquid metal fuel variant that the company is aiming for the first realization. The reactor design won the public vote for the Galileo Knowledge Prize in the German

GreenTec Awards The GreenTec Awards are an international environmental award based in Germany. Founded in 2008 by the Berlin-based consultancy VKP engineering GmbH, the prize honors projects, products, and people contributing to the protection of the environmen ...

of 2013, but the award committee presiding over the awards changed the rules to exclude all nuclear designs before announcing the winner. The Dual Fluid participants successfully sued in response to this. A conceptual predecessor of the Dual Fluid Reactor was the UK 1970s lead-cooled fast spectrum MSR (MSFR), which was undergoing a design path inclusive of the fissile fuel likewise dissolved in a molten chloride salt, with experimental work undertaken over 1968-73. Funding ceased in 1974.

Trivia

The company Dual Fluid Energy Inc. no longer uses the previously used acronym "DFR" because of confusion with the Deounreay Fast Reactor.

References

External links

Dual Fluid Reactor
{{Nuclear fission reactors Liquid metal fast reactors Nuclear power reactor types

History

Trivia

References

Further reading

External links