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NN Asks: What does it take to build a domestic fuel salt supply chain?
Adam Burak
We need facilities capable of converting uranium and thorium feedstocks into salts, as well as a source of thorium, if we are to build a domestic fuel salt supply chain.
Our current supply chain provides a potential pathway to produce one type of fuel salt. The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used uranium trifluoride/uranium tetrafluoride (UF3/4) as fuel in the late 1960s, and some current developers are following suit. Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) made as part of the enrichment process could be reduced to uranium fluoride salts with a +3 or +4 valence state. However, as oxygen and moisture are critical impurities for molten salt, a facility with the capability to properly handle molten salts would be necessary.
L. J. Esch, M. L. Yeater, W. E. Moore, K. W. Seemann
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 46 | Number 2 | November 1971 | Pages 223-235
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A22356
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The double differential neutron scattering cross section for water has been measured at temperatures of 27, 170, and 270°C, The RPI linear electron accelerator provided the pulsed neutron source for a time-of-flight analysis of neutron energy. By phasing the LINAC with a high speed chopper, incident neutron energies ranging from 0.04 to 0.632 eV were selected. Energy distributions of scattered neutrons were obtained at scattering angles of 10, 14, 25, 40, 60, 90, 120, and 150 deg. The relatively wide range of incident energies with good resolution made it possible to observe clearly the molecular energy levels. The structure was seen to broaden considerably in going from 27 to 170°C but was little changed by the further temperature increase. A model has been developed in which the water scattering system is considered as consisting of aggregates of molecules. These clusters have temperature-dependent sizes, and diffuse according to a temperature-dependent diffusion constant. The energy levels of the molecules bound in the cluster are represented by a multi-Gaussian frequency distribution which varies with temperature. The internal vibrations of the individual water molecules are represented by delta functions. A new approach has been taken in comparing this and other models with the data, involving the application of recent improvements in methods of treating resolution and multiple scattering: a Monte Carlo technique has been used to impose these conditions on the models. These comparisons, and comparisons with integral data, indicate that the new model should have advantages for reactor calculations.