About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Materials and Chemistry for Molten Salt Systems
|
| Presentation Title |
MOOSE Based Thermodynamic Assessment of Salt Purification in Molten Salt Reactor Fuel Salts |
| Author(s) |
Abhishek Bhesania, Mauricio Tano |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Abhishek Bhesania |
| Abstract Scope |
Molten salt reactor fuel salts degrade during operation as fission and transmutation products accumulate, altering thermodynamic behavior, redox chemistry, corrosion, and off-gassing. Fluorination is a promising cleanup method in which fluorine gas oxidizes selected species into volatile fluorides removable by inert-gas sparging.
This work couples Thermochimica and Pronghorn to investigate equilibrium thermodynamics and thermal-fluid behavior in a LiF–BeF₂–ZrF₄–ThF₄–UF₄ molten salt system as a starting point, establishing a framework for end-of-cycle purification modeling. Equilibrium calculations across temperature and fluorination conditions evaluated uranium-, thorium-, zirconium-, and fluorine-bearing species distributions between salt and gas phases. Results identify conditions promoting volatile species formation, including UF₆, and provide a mechanistic basis for predicting impurity removal and actinide retention. Future work will incorporate depletion-derived impurity inventories to assess fluorination-driven gasification, re-fluorination strategies, and integrated approaches supporting advanced molten salt reactor fuel cycles under realistic operating conditions. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Recycling and Secondary Recovery, Computational Materials Science & Engineering |