PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL BASED SABOTAGE OF ADVANCED REACTOR CONCEPTS

The advanced reactor fleet has varying chemical and physical properties compared to the light water reactor fleet, which increases their efficiency and adds inherent safety features. However, these different properties also pose new security concerns and potential vulnerabilities that are not present in the current fleet. Four advanced reactor concepts (sodium fast reactors, heat piped based microreactors, molten salt reactors, and high temperature gas reactors) are discussed in this work with emphasis on their physical and chemical differences from light water reactors, if and how those differences could be exploited, and how the concerns can be designed out.