Comparative evaluation of hydrogen production with various chlorine thermochemical cycles integrated in a PACER fusion driver thorium based molten salt reactor

In this study, the neutronic performance and hydrogen production potential of the PACER fusion driver thorium based molten salt reactor integrated with hydrogen production unit have been performed during the operation period. Firstly, the neutronic calculations have been performed to produce an electrical energy of 1000 MW from fusion explosions of 8.36 TJ to be repeated every 40 min with Monte Carlo Method. In the time dependent calculations, 80 mol. % LiF as the main component is mixed with the 20 mol. % heavy metal salt (ThF4) as molten salt fuel. Tritium breeding ratio (TBR) is computed as 1.06 at startup. TBR >1.05 have been provided along with continuous operation periods of ∼20 years for a self-sustained reactor. The energy multiplication factor (M) is found as 1.33 at initial whereas, this value has been reached approximately 13.28 at the end of operation time. Th fissile fuel production (233U) have been obtained as ∼0.03 gr/cm3 at the end of operation time. Secondly, the amount of produced hydrogen in a PACER fusion concept integrated with iron chlorine (Fe-Cl), cobalt chlorine (Co-Cl) and copper chlorine (Cu-Cl) thermochemical cycle chlorine cycles have been investigated depends on the obtained neutronic results. As a result, the amount of produced hydrogen from Co-Cl, Fe-Cl and Cu-Cl thermochemical cycles have been calculated 1766 × 106 kg/year, 2470 × 106 kg/year and 3352 × 106 kg/year, respectively, at the end of 20 years.