A preliminary study on seismic behavior of the graphite reflector in molten salt reactor

Graphite reflector submerged in molten salt in TMSR has important influences on the evaluation of structural stability of the reflector and the safety of the reactor because of the collision and fluid-solid interaction. In this paper, an approach is proposed for simulating the non-linear responses of the reflector under seismic excitation. And then, with this approach, a finite element model of the reflector in TMSR is built to investigate its dynamic characteristics and the seismic time history responses. From the results of the seismic time history analysis, the displacements of the control rod channel, which are required for the evaluation the safety of the reactor, are obtained as the boundary condition for the control rod drop test. At the same time, the impact forces between the components are provided that is required for the stress evaluation of graphite components.