ThorCon: Cheap, Reliable, CO2-free Electricity

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� Forward to aft, power flow

� Decay Heat Pond, Fission island,

SG cell, turbine hall, Gishall

� Fission Island small part of plant

� Thall, Gishall flanked by ballast

tanks.

� Straight across seawater flow.

� Aux blr, SW pumps in transcept

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33 80 14 24 23

Gishall Turbine Hall SG Cell Fiss Is DH Pond

/nfs/TC/GIT/docs/do117 2018-09-27

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Standard tanker hull structure (but nil curved plate)1

65.000

33.000

/nfs/TC/GIT/docs/do117 2018-09-14

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Fission Island

ThorCon’s Boiler

(Only public stuff in this presentation.)

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POT PHX SHX Stm.Gen.

PLP

1.0 MWe

SLP

2.1 MWe

TLP

1.3 MWe

704C

3.90b

704C

10.93b

565C

5.52b

565C

6.93b

2955 kg/sNaF-BeF2-ThF4-UF4

2.00b 11.86b

621C

19.70b

621C

18.70b

454C

29.2b

454C

3.40b

1534 kg/s

NaF-BeF2

570C

3.9b

570C

14.6b

344C

8.6b

344C

9.6b

1633 kg/sSolar salt

Gen.

515 MWe

Condenser

BFP

2 off, 7.5 MW per PMOD

550C

256.5b

287C

258.8b

255.0b547C

0.05b32C

SWP

0.8 MWe2 off

7500 kg/sper PMOD20C

1.0b

2.0b

30C

1.3b

SRH

27

8 k

g/s

550C

48.6b

304C51.5b

190 kg/sper PMOD

216 kg/s per PMOD, flow thru condenser double this

'b' is shorthand for bar absolute

2018-03-25T17:25:04Z

ThorCon’s 4 Loops, fuelsalt, fluoride secsalt, solar salt, 550C steam loop

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Two 250 MWe power modules (PMODs). Two Cans per PMOD

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� Can/Fuelsalt Drain tank (FDT)

hang in double walled silo.

� Can/FDT replacable by Crane

� Can operates for four years.

� Fuelsalt transferred to other Can.

� Can cools for four years,

then changed out.

� FDT connected to Can

by Freeze Valve (gray)

� Drain tank made up of 32 Cones

� Silo annulus is water filled

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Transient #5 - Instant Unprotected Station Blackout

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• All safety systems fail– No shutdown rods– No backup power– No cooling– Much worse than Fukushima

• Fission power shut down from negative feedbacks– Passive natural circulation provides

initial cooling

• At drain time, the reactor is put into a safe state with salt in drain tank– Salt temperatures max at 1000 C– 0.25% of steel creep lifetime used up

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� Crimped portion actively cooled.

Salt freezes, forms plug.

� Salt on either side of plug heated.

� If no power to valve, plug thaws.

Primary loop drains.

� Thermo-switch in hot portion of

loop passively opens at 750C.

� Proven by MSRE over 4 years.

ThorCon uses four MSRE valves

in parallel.

� If primary loop rupture, liquid fu-

elsalt flows to drain tank via an-

nulus.

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� Fuelsalt drains into FDT Cones.

� Cones radiate to Coldwall.

� Sets up natural circulation

in Cones.

� About 1% of water in Coldwall

goes to steam.

� Sets up natural circulation

in Coldwall loop.

� Robust, temperature to 4th power

process.

� No power, no valves

� Coldwall loop always on,

keeps Can at 350C

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Cold-wall loop, blue riser to condenser in pond on right,

return via expansion tank to flooded basement.

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ThorCon Walkaway Safety

� On any over-temperature, ThorCon shuts itself down.

� On any over-temperature,

ThorCon passively drains the primary loop.

� Coldwall automatically handles the decay heat.

� No valves, no power, no operator,

no system action required.

� Nothing the operator nor control system can do

to prevent the shutdown, drain and cooldown.

� Backed up by basement water

if Coldwall loop inoperative.

� Important regulatory implications.

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At least three, strong, ductile, gas-tight radiation barriers.

Can, Silo, and double-walled Hull.

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� Can change out.

� Extra Silo starts leapfrog procees.

� Canship also does Fuelsalt Casks

� Gantry, whirley work together.

� Canal on intake side.

� Other mooring arrangements.

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Turbine Hall

Bog standard, single reheat, super-critical steam cycle

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ThorCon Steam Turbine Model with 8 Feedwater Heaters - New Base May 2018 File Name:TC 49 New Base May 2018 2018-05-23 2050

STG Model: Doosan-Skoda Super-Critical

HP Turbine Bypass IP Feedwater for bypass operation IP & LP Turbine Bypass Condenser Water for bypass operation

38.8 bara 0.06 241 MW 36.6 bara

269.7C 547.0C 5.6 bara 5.6 bara

2,876 kJ/kg 3,557 kJ/kg 279.4C 279.4C

354.4 kg/s 354.4 kg/s 3,020 kJ/kg 3,020 kJ/kg

255 bara HP Turbine IP Turbine 290.9 kg/s 276.0 kg/s LP Turbine

547.0C 92.5% 94.6% 92.0%

3,324 kJ/kg 185 MW 171 MW 168 MW

255 bara 425.4 kg/s 14.9 kg/s 516 MW

547.0C Sentry Turbine (ST) DA/#4 FWH 35 MW

3,324 kJ/kg

425.4 kg/s 20.6 bara 0.083 bara

455.4C 15.0 MW 0.907 dry

3,369 kJ/kg 90.0% 42.2C 30.7 kg/s

15.7 kg/s 2,355 kJ/kg 576 MW From ST & FWPT

15.3 MW 20.6 bara 232.8 kg/s 38.3C

455.4C CW in 30.0 C

3,369 kJ/kg

Condenser 18.0 kg/s 16.3 bara 5.6 bara 5.6 bara 2.5 bara 0.30 bara

370.8C 156.4C 136.5C 193.1C 0.96 dry

71.5 bara 38.8 bara 20.6 bara 3,200 kJ/kg 660 kJ/kg 574 kJ/kg 2,854 kJ/kg 2,520 kJ/kg

347.3C 269.7C 455.4C Desup dT =.0C 14.8 kg/s 425.4 kg/s 410.5 kg/s 16.0 kg/s 11.9 kg/s

3,004 kJ/kg 2,876 kJ/kg 3,369 kJ/kg 0.0 MW Hotwell Pump

44.4 kg/s 26.5 kg/s 18.0 kg/s 165.9C 1.0 bara

702 kJ/kg 107.93 C

103.7 kg/s 2,692 kJ/kg 42.2C 44.9C

278 bara 15.3 kg/s 307 kg/s 43.2 kg/s

288.0C #8 FWH #7 FWH #6 FWH #5 FWH 126.5C #3 FWH #2 FWH #1 FWH 177 kJ/kg

1,269 kJ/kg 85 MW 57 MW 56 MW 47 MW 532 kJ/kg 39 MW 39 MW 31 MW

425.4 kg/s 306.8 kg/s

288.0C 246.1C 216.2C 186.3C 96.6C 66.7C

278.5 bara 42.7C

Desup FWH dT = .0C 160.4C Main Feedwater Pump 48.2C

Desup FWH MW = .0 MW 694 kJ/kg From IPT1 Exhaust

251.6C 221.7C 191.8C 165.9C 425.4 kg/s 15.0 kg/s 102.1C 72.2C

dT Consensate:Feedwater 5.5C 5.5C 5.5C 5.5C 5.5C 5.5C 5.5C

dT in FW Temp per Heater 41.9C 29.9C 29.9C 29.9C HP Feedwater 29.9C 29.9C 24.0C

90.0% Load Setting 100.0%

Note: ST = Sentry Turbine 33.9C dT from #3 14.7 MW 66.7 Reactor Thermal Output Capacity 1,117 MW

PI = Power Island 4.0C dT (pump) Power Island Auxiliary Loads Fission Island Thermal Losses 2.0 MW

FI = Fission Island 0.0 kg/s Feedpump Power 14,378 kW Thermal Power to Power Island 1,115 MW

CW = Circulating Water (condenser cooling water) Condenser Once Through CW Pumps 1,768 kW

CW calcs currently based on fresh water Hotwell Pump Power 214 kW Cycle Output (inc. ST) 539 MW

Subtotal 3.1% 16,359 kW Gross Steam Cycle Efficiency 48.3%

Generator Output (inc. ST) 531 MW

Plant Auxiliary Loads PI Net power at LV side of Tx 529 MW

Salt Pump Aux Load 8,800 kW PI Net Eff at LV side of Tx 47.4%

Other Aux Loads 1,000 kW Power for Sale at HV Level 517 MW

PI Aux Loads 1,981 kW Net Eff of Power for Sale 46.4%

Est Transformer Losses 2,096 kW Energy Balance Error 0.01%

Modelling by Generation Solutions Limited for ThorCon US Inc. Subtotal Aux Loads & Losses 13,877 kW Printed 23-May-2018 20:50

874 MW

Deaerator

Deaerator Storage Vessel

Steam Generator

Reheater

Condenser

Drains Cooler

517 MWe, 46.4% efficiency on 30C sea water

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Figure 1: The Four Loops, 100% by-pass system, lower right

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Figure 2: Seawater system, feedwater pumps, Sentry turbine

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GIS Hall

� Minimize shoreside work.

� Match to Grid, 345/500 kV, 50/60 HZ, HVDC (VSC)

� Near-shore/Offshore

� Air-insulated/insulated cables/subsea cables

� Reliability/availability to match rest of plant

� Last down/first up

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Spare transformer, transformers, HV circuit breakers, black start generators.

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Status of Design� DNA Model of the Plant (10,000 lines of code)

� Fission Island Technical Summary (300 pages)

� Isle Balance of Plant Document (140 pages)

� High Resolution Neutronics/Burn up Model of the Core (Serpent).

(cross checks with MCNP, Open MC, ANL NIMES, UCB)

� Thermohydraulics Model of Core/Freeze Valve/Drain Tank (Milano

MultiPhysics)

� Detailed Transient Model of four loops (simplified steam cycle)

(Qvist/Hellersen)

� Solidworks Model of Isle (Jazzy Engineering). Can export to yard.

� MAESTRO and LS-DYNA FE models of the Hull (Prof. Paik)

� Heat Balance Model of Steam Cycle (Generation Solutions Ltd)

� Numerous supporting Calcs

� Can be turned into an RFQ quickly.

But lots of engineering still to be done.

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