Assessing the value of future ZED-2 experiments for molten salt reactor temperature reactivity validation

Zero Energy Deuterium (ZED-2) reactor experiments at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories have the potential to support the development of advanced power reactors. Relevant experimental data from ZED-2 could be used to validate code predictions of important quantities such as the reactivity temperature coefficient (RTC). However, ZED-2, was originally designed to support CANDU reactor applications, and its applicability to alternate designs is not well established. This work provides a thorough example of how a proposed experiment can be assessed based on its potential to reduce application response uncertainty within the TSUNAMI validation framework. A similar approach could be adopted by reactor designers and experimentalists to explore and optimize future benchmark experiments for novel applications. This work considers two potential ZED-2 experiments for validating predictions of molten salt reactor (MSR) RTCs. The results indicate that valuable experimental data can be gathered from appropriately designed ZED-2 experiments. However, configurations should minimize reliance on driver fuels as they significantly reduce the value of the experimental data.