In-situ characterization of interfaces between materials and molten salts for molten salt reactors

Molten salts are a crucial component in the proposed advanced nuclear reactors called “molten salt reactors” (MSRs)- The appealing aspect of an MSR is that a meltdown is virtually impossible, since the fuel is dissolved into the salt- One of the key challenges hindering MSRs is corrosion of structural materials that hold the molten salt due to the interactions between material and molten salt at high temperature, especially within a radioactive environment that accelerates materials degradation- Currently, materials analysis must be performed after the corrosion has occurred when the molten salt has cooled, which means that the process cannot be studied as it occurs- Here, we propose to develop an innovative characterization technique to study the processes while the molten salt is hot, potentially even, while it is in operation- This would enable fundamental understanding of phenomena governing interfacial behavior at the interface between a molten salt, and a material- This project explicitly addresses the central challenge of identifying new materials for MSRs- By observing corrosion as it happens at the material-molten salt interface, we can identify how to prevent and reduce it- This work will enable a fundamental understanding of materials corrosion in high-temperature molten salts- To address this task, we specifically propose to develop a setup to characterize the interface between the molten salt and materials using X-rays- The setup will consist of a small furnace enclosing a container of molten salt and a material of interest- This furnace will be outfitted with holes that allow X-ray beams to pass through the sample to the detector-