Effect of iodides on thermal behavior and phase partitioning in LiCl-KCl
Liquid-fueled molten salt reactors (MSRs) are designed to operate with fissile materials and, ultimately, fission products dissolved in the primary molten salt coolant. Understanding the speciation and transport of iodine—a high-yield fission product—is essential because this element’s accidental release poses significant environmental concerns due to its capacity to be readily absorbed by the human thyroid […]
Electrorefiner Speciation and Phase Model for Prediction of Operation Lifetime
The Mk IV electrorefiner (ER) at Idaho National Laboratory has recovered uranium metal from used nuclear fuels for 27 years. Thus, large quantities of fission product chlorides more electropositive than uranium have accumulated in the ER salt, increasing the complexity of phase equilibria and salt speciation. Importantly, the melt temperature of the salt increases with […]
Separation of fission products from high-level waste salt systems by partial crystallization: CsCl-NaCl-LiCl-KCl study
Pyroprocessing refers to a series of high-temperature molten-salt processes used to manage and recycle nuclear materials to reduce the waste volume and hazardous environmental impact of the final waste product. In these processes, fission products with high halide affinity, including cesium (Cs-137) with a half-life of 30 years that decays to barium (Ba-137), are dissolved […]
Smoothed particle hydrodynamics modeling and analysis of oxide reduction process for uranium oxides
A common kinetic feature for oxide reduction chemical/electrochemical processes is oxygen transport via a porous metallic layer, which has been considered as a rate-determining step for reducing uranium oxides to metallic uranium. Accounting this kinetic behavior must involve the resolution of the moving reactive interface between shrinking oxide and expanding metal phases. This study presents […]
Modelling and analysis of salt-convection effect on oxide reduction process for uranium oxides using smoothed particle hydrodynamics
Oxygen ion transport via molten salt continuum is a key kinetic feature of electrochemical reduction process for uranium oxides in molten salt. During the electrolysis, the evolution of oxygen ion concentration field in molten salt continuum appears from porous metallic layer to open bulk salt. Despite the important role affecting process throughput, its effect coupled […]
Electrochemical Measurement and Analysis of YCl3, ScCl3, GdCl3 and MgCl2 in Molten Eutectic LiCl-KCl
Electrochemical measurements of YCl3, ScCl3, GdCl3 and MgCl2 were obtained in the molten eutectic LiCl-KCl at 773 K using a three-electrode configuration. Tungsten rods were used as the working and counter electrodes. Three reference electrodes of differing composition (glassy carbon, nickel wire, and Ni/NiO) were utilized to acquire electrochemical measurements of the analyte salts. Cyclic […]