Molten salt reactors are a rapidly growing field of interest for applications in nuclear energy. This leads to a growing need to understand the fundamental chemistry of molten salt systems. However, the tools for monitoring and characterization are currently unavailable. Current approaches for characterizing molten salts are limited to grab samples or small crucibles. These methods are not ideal for in situ characterization of molten salts systems, resulting in a gap in quantifying the evolution of molten salt chemistry. Spectroscopic monitoring paired with electrochemical modulation can provide fundamental information to determine speciation, concentration, and oxidation state of optically active species within the molten salt environment. Select f-elements within molten salt media have distinct spectral fingerprints that can be used as the basis for quantitative measurement. These analytes can be electrochemically modulated to accurately track the spectroscopic signature in a harsh complex environment, like that of molten salts. This work combines electrochemical modulation and spectroscopic detection to characterize target analytes within a molten salt media. This technique will provide fundamental information to help fill in literature gaps regarding redox chemistry, diffusion coefficients, speciation and interaction behavior. Studies will include experimental design, molten salt composition, and analytical technique. Preliminary studies have demonstrated the absorption based spectroelectrochemical modulation of uranium within a molten chloride media using cyclic voltammetry. This work is being expanded on to further characterize U and other f-elements in within the molten salt environment, including adequate optical materials for interrogation of the molten salt system.

Spectroscopic and electrochemical investigation of f-elements and optical materials in molten salt

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.