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Mr. Andrea Di Ronco
Politecnico di Milano

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0 Energy
0 Fluid Dynamics
0 Nuclear Energy
0 Nuclear Engineering
0 Multiphysics

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Original research article
Published: 29 June 2021 in Frontiers in Energy Research
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Nuclear reactor modeling has been shifting, over the last decades, towards full-core multiphysics analysis due to the ever-increasing safety requirements and complexity of the designs of innovative systems. This is particularly true for liquid-fuel reactor concepts such as the Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR), given their strong intrinsic coupling between thermal-hydraulics, neutronics and fuel chemistry. In the MSFR, fission products (FPs) are originated within the liquid fuel and are carried by the fuel flow all over the reactor core and through pumping and heat exchange systems. Some of FP species, in the form of solid precipitates, can represent a major design and safety challenge, e.g., due to deposition on solid boundaries, and their distribution in the core is relevant to the design and safety analysis of the reactor. In this regard it is essential, both for the design and the safety assessment of the reactor, the capability to model the transport of solid FPs and their deposition to the boundary (e.g., wall or heat exchanger structures). To this aim, in this study, models of transport of solid FPs in the MSFR are developed and verified. An Eulerian single-phase transport model is developed and integrated in a consolidated multiphysics model of the MSFR based on the open-source CFD library OpenFOAM. In particular, general mixed-type deposition boundary conditions are considered, to possibly describe different kinds of particle-wall interaction mechanisms. For verification purposes, analytical solutions for simple case studies are derived ad hoc based on the extension of the classic Graetz problem to linear decay, distributed source terms and mixed-type boundary conditions. The results show excellent agreement between the two models, and highlight the effects of decay and deposition phenomena of various intensity. The resulting approach constitutes a computationally efficient tool to extend the capabilities of CFD-based multiphysics MSFR calculations towards the simulation of solid fission products transport.

ACS Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Stefano Lorenzi; Francesca Giacobbo; Antonio Cammi. An Eulerian Single-Phase Transport Model for Solid Fission Products in the Molten Salt Fast Reactor: Development of an Analytical Solution for Verification Purposes. Frontiers in Energy Research 2021, 9, 1 .

AMA Style

Andrea Di Ronco, Stefano Lorenzi, Francesca Giacobbo, Antonio Cammi. An Eulerian Single-Phase Transport Model for Solid Fission Products in the Molten Salt Fast Reactor: Development of an Analytical Solution for Verification Purposes. Frontiers in Energy Research. 2021; 9 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Stefano Lorenzi; Francesca Giacobbo; Antonio Cammi. 2021. "An Eulerian Single-Phase Transport Model for Solid Fission Products in the Molten Salt Fast Reactor: Development of an Analytical Solution for Verification Purposes." Frontiers in Energy Research 9, no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 15 December 2020 in Sustainability
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The unique design features of the molten salt fast reactor (MSFR) should enable higher coolant temperatures than in conventional water reactors, with a significant improvement in the achievable thermodynamic performance. The use of a molten salt as both fuel and coolant, however, poses several advanced heat transfer challenges, such as the design of innovative heat exchangers and energy conversion systems. In this work, we address a preliminary but quantitative analysis of the energy conversion system for the MSFR, based on reference design data from the SAMOFAR H2020-EURATOM project. We consider three main technologies, i.e., the supercritical steam cycle, the closed helium cycle and the helium/steam combined cycle. Preliminary design results are presented for each technology, based on a simplified modelling approach. The considered cycles show promising efficiency improvements, with the best performance being proven by the supercritical steam cycle. The analysis also highlights the critical issue related to the risk of freezing of the molten salts within the secondary heat exchangers, due to the low inlet temperatures of the working fluids. Results show potential incompatibility between the freezing point of molten salts and the temperatures typical of steam cycles, while helium cycles offer the best chances of freezing avoidance. The combined cycle promises intermediate performance in terms of thermodynamic efficiency and thermal compatibility with molten salts comparable with closed helium cycles.

ACS Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Francesca Giacobbo; Guglielmo Lomonaco; Stefano Lorenzi; Xiang Wang; Antonio Cammi. Preliminary Analysis and Design of the Energy Conversion System for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10497 .

AMA Style

Andrea Di Ronco, Francesca Giacobbo, Guglielmo Lomonaco, Stefano Lorenzi, Xiang Wang, Antonio Cammi. Preliminary Analysis and Design of the Energy Conversion System for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (24):10497.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Francesca Giacobbo; Guglielmo Lomonaco; Stefano Lorenzi; Xiang Wang; Antonio Cammi. 2020. "Preliminary Analysis and Design of the Energy Conversion System for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor." Sustainability 12, no. 24: 10497.

Journal article
Published: 30 November 2020 in Sustainability
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In the present work, a online data assimilation approach, based on the Kalman filter algorithm, is proposed for the source term reconstruction in accidental events with dispersion of radioactive agents in air. For this purpose a Gaussian plume model of dispersion in air is embedded in the Kalman filter algorithm to estimate unknown scenario parameters, such as the coordinates and the intensity of the source, on the basis of measurements collected by a mobile sensor. The approach was tested against pseudo-experimental data produced with both the Gaussian plume model and the Lagrangian puff model SCIPUFF. The results show the good capabilities of the proposed approach in retrieving the values of the unknown parameters when (i) one or more release parameters are poorly known and (ii) a sufficient number of experimental measurements describing the evolution of the dispersion process can be collected in a short time by means of mobile sensors. Thanks to its flexibility and computational efficiency, and due to the exploitation of the Kalman filter potentialities through the use of a simplified model of dispersion in air, the proposed approach can constitute a useful tool for the management of emergency scenarios.

ACS Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Francesca Giacobbo; Antonio Cammi. A Kalman Filter-Based Approach for Online Source-Term Estimation in Accidental Radioactive Dispersion Events. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10003 .

AMA Style

Andrea Di Ronco, Francesca Giacobbo, Antonio Cammi. A Kalman Filter-Based Approach for Online Source-Term Estimation in Accidental Radioactive Dispersion Events. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (23):10003.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Francesca Giacobbo; Antonio Cammi. 2020. "A Kalman Filter-Based Approach for Online Source-Term Estimation in Accidental Radioactive Dispersion Events." Sustainability 12, no. 23: 10003.

Journal article
Published: 03 February 2020 in Nuclear Engineering and Design
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The study of innovative nuclear reactors involves the use of increasingly complex numerical models. While such models provide a high-fidelity description of many non-linear coupled phenomena, they are not suited for many-query tasks such as design optimisation, uncertainty quantification, stability analysis or parameter identification due to the required computational effort. For this reason, a variety of techniques have been employed to reduce the complexity and surrogate the response of large nuclear systems. One example is the dynamic mode decomposition (DMD), a data-driven method which builds a low-dimensional eigenvalue-eigenvector representation of the underlying model from numerical data, and allows for non-intrusive analyses of the dynamical properties of the system without knowledge of the model itself. In this work, DMD is applied to the study of a free-dynamics fast transient of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor (MSFR), following a variation of the heat transfer coefficient. The numerical data is provided by a multiphysics model developed using the open-source CFD toolkit OpenFOAM. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the applicability of DMD to the study of large next-generation nuclear systems such as the MSFR. The results show the capabilities of DMD to extract and surrogate the dynamics of the MSFR following perturbation, including the initial non-linear dynamics and the final steady-state. Different values of parameters relevant to the construction of DMD models are tested, to provide some insights on the sensitivity of the method to the selection of the numerical data set and to the size of the reduced model.

ACS Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Carolina Introini; Eric Cervi; Stefano Lorenzi; Yeong Shin Jeong; Seok Bin Seo; In Cheol Bang; Francesca Giacobbo; Antonio Cammi. Dynamic mode decomposition for the stability analysis of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor core. Nuclear Engineering and Design 2020, 362, 110529 .

AMA Style

Andrea Di Ronco, Carolina Introini, Eric Cervi, Stefano Lorenzi, Yeong Shin Jeong, Seok Bin Seo, In Cheol Bang, Francesca Giacobbo, Antonio Cammi. Dynamic mode decomposition for the stability analysis of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor core. Nuclear Engineering and Design. 2020; 362 ():110529.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Carolina Introini; Eric Cervi; Stefano Lorenzi; Yeong Shin Jeong; Seok Bin Seo; In Cheol Bang; Francesca Giacobbo; Antonio Cammi. 2020. "Dynamic mode decomposition for the stability analysis of the Molten Salt Fast Reactor core." Nuclear Engineering and Design 362, no. : 110529.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2020 in Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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ACS Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Antonio Cammi; Stefano Lorenzi. Preliminary analysis and design of the heat exchangers for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor. Nuclear Engineering and Technology 2020, 52, 51 -58.

AMA Style

Andrea Di Ronco, Antonio Cammi, Stefano Lorenzi. Preliminary analysis and design of the heat exchangers for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor. Nuclear Engineering and Technology. 2020; 52 (1):51-58.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Andrea Di Ronco; Antonio Cammi; Stefano Lorenzi. 2020. "Preliminary analysis and design of the heat exchangers for the Molten Salt Fast Reactor." Nuclear Engineering and Technology 52, no. 1: 51-58.

Journal article
Published: 11 November 2019 in EPJ Nuclear Sciences & Technologies
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In this paper, modelling and simulation of a control-oriented plant-dynamics tool for the molten salt fast reactor (MSFR) is presented. The objective was to develop a simulation tool aimed at investigating the plant response to standard control transients, in order to support the system design finalization and the definition of control strategies. The simulator was developed employing the well tested, flexible and open-source object-oriented Modelica language. A one-dimensional modelling approach was used for thermal-hydraulics and heat transfer. Standard and validated thermal-hydraulic Modelica libraries were employed for various plant components (tubes, pumps, turbines, etc.). An effort was spent in developing a new MSR library modelling the 1D flow of a liquid nuclear fuel, including an ad-hoc neutron-kinetics model which properly takes into consideration the motion of the Delayed Neutron Precursors along the fuel circuit and the consequent reactivity insertion due to the variation of the effective delayed fractions. An analytical steady-state 2-D model of the core and the fuel circuit was developed using MATLAB in order to validate the Decay Neutron Precursors model implemented in the plant simulator. The plant simulator was then employed to investigate the plant dynamics in response to three transients (variation of fuel flow rate, intermediate flow rate and turbine gas flow rate) that are relevant to control purposes. Simulation outcomes highlight the typical reactor-follows-turbine behavior of the MSFR, and they show the small influence of fuel and intermediate flow rate on the reactor power and their strong effects on the temperatures in their respective circuits. Starting from the insights on the reactor behavior gained from the analysis of its free dynamics, the plant simulator here developed will provide a valuable tool in support to the finalization of the design phase, the definition of control strategies and the identification of controlled operational procedures for reactor startup and shutdown.

ACS Style

Claudio Tripodo; Andrea Di Ronco; Stefano Lorenzi; Antonio Cammi. Development of a control-oriented power plant simulator for the molten salt fast reactor. EPJ Nuclear Sciences & Technologies 2019, 5, 13 .

AMA Style

Claudio Tripodo, Andrea Di Ronco, Stefano Lorenzi, Antonio Cammi. Development of a control-oriented power plant simulator for the molten salt fast reactor. EPJ Nuclear Sciences & Technologies. 2019; 5 ():13.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Claudio Tripodo; Andrea Di Ronco; Stefano Lorenzi; Antonio Cammi. 2019. "Development of a control-oriented power plant simulator for the molten salt fast reactor." EPJ Nuclear Sciences & Technologies 5, no. : 13.

Journal article
Published: 05 April 2018 in Progress in Nuclear Energy
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The development of next-generation nuclear reactors requires a careful investigation of their stability characteristics and of their overall dynamical behavior. In the current work, a stability analysis is carried out from the perspective of linear systems for all the Gen-IV reactor concepts. Linear, zero-dimensional models of the reactors are developed in MATLABĀ® and the root locus criterion is applied to investigate the stability of the systems over their entire power range. The analysis is carried out for the stand-alone cores, assuming the inlet coolant temperature as a fixed parameter, and also considering the primary coolant circuit of each reactor, in order to evaluate the effect of out-of-core energy dynamics on the systems stability. All the reactors proved to be stable with a large margin over their nominal power. In the last part of the work, a comparison of the dynamic behavior of the Gen-IV reactors is presented, in order to point out the influence of the different geometrical features and of the different materials employed as coolant.

ACS Style

E. Cervi; A. Cammi; Andrea Di Ronco. Stability analysis of the Generation-IV nuclear reactors by means of the root locus criterion. Progress in Nuclear Energy 2018, 106, 316 -334.

AMA Style

E. Cervi, A. Cammi, Andrea Di Ronco. Stability analysis of the Generation-IV nuclear reactors by means of the root locus criterion. Progress in Nuclear Energy. 2018; 106 ():316-334.

Chicago/Turabian Style

E. Cervi; A. Cammi; Andrea Di Ronco. 2018. "Stability analysis of the Generation-IV nuclear reactors by means of the root locus criterion." Progress in Nuclear Energy 106, no. : 316-334.