Neutronics calculations for denatured molten salt reactors: Assessing resource requirements and proliferation-risk attributes

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are often advocated as a radical but worthwhile alternative to traditional reactor concepts based on solid fuels. This article builds upon the existing research into MSRs to model and simulate the operation of thorium-fueled single-fluid and two-fluid reactors. The analysis is based on neutronics calculations and focuses on denatured MSR systems. Resource utilization and basic proliferation-risk attributes are compared to those of standard light-water reactors. Depending on specific design choices, even fully denatured reactors could reduce uranium and enrichment requirements by a factor of 3-4. Overall, denatured single-fluid designs appear as the most promising candidate technology minimizing both design complexity and overall proliferation risks despite being somewhat less attractive from the perspective of resource utilization.