Neutron science reveals “fascinating chemistry” of molten fuel salts
September 17, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News
In this illustration of oscillating UCl3 bonds, neutrons produced at the SNS (purple dots) scatter off molten UCl3 (depicted in green), revealing its atomic structure. Yellow and white shapes simulate data and represent the oscillating UCl3 bonds. (Image: Alex Ivanov/ORNL)
New research into the dynamics and structure of high-temperature liquid uranium trichloride (UCl3) salt—a potential fuel for molten salt reactors—has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. A recent news release from Oak Ridge National Laboratory describes how researchers from ORNL, Argonne National Laboratory, and the University of South Carolina used ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to document the unique chemistry of liquid UCl3 “for the first time.”
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