On-line monitoring combined with spectroelectrochemistry for the characterization of uranium and fission products within molten salt environments

摘要

Molten salt reactors and pyroprocessing aregrowing areas of interest due to the many benefits theyoffer. However, the chemical behavior of actinides, fissionproducts, and corrosion products is not well understoodwithin the molten salt environment. This includes redoxbehavior, corrosion effects and rates, and speciationdependencies on temperature and salt melt composition.On-line monitoring paired with spectroelectrochemistryallows for a powerful route to characterize these systemsin situ. On-line monitoring utilizing optical spectroscopyallows for the fast and robust identification andquantification of many actinides, fission products, andcorrosion products. Here we demonstrate the applicationof spectroelectrochemistry and on-line monitoring to thecharacterization of chloride based salt melts containinglanthanides and actinides.