Nuclear reactor, molten salt

Forsberg, C. W., and P. S. Pickard, November 2001. Advanced High-Temperature Reactor Molten Salt Coolant and Graphite Fuel, Proceedings of the American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting,... 

The metal is a source of nuclear power. There is probably more energy available for use from thorium in the minerals of the earth s crust than from both uranium and fossil fuels. Any sizable demand from thorium as a nuclear fuel is still several years in the future. Work has been done in developing thorium cycle converter-reactor systems. Several prototypes, including the HTGR (high-temperature gas-cooled reactor) and MSRE (molten salt converter reactor experiment), have operated. While the HTGR reactors are efficient, they are not expected to become important commercially for many years because of certain operating difficulties. 

Molten lithium fluoride is used in salt mixtures for an electrolyte in high temperature batteries (qv) (FLINAK) (20), and as a carrier in breeder reactors (FLIBE) (21) (see Nuclear reactors). 

Several components are required in the practical appHcation of nuclear reactors (1 5). The first and most vital component of a nuclear reactor is the fuel, which is usually uranium slightly enriched in uranium-235 [15117-96-1] to approximately 3%, in contrast to natural uranium which has 0.72% Less commonly, reactors are fueled with plutonium produced by neutron absorption in uranium-238 [24678-82-8]. Even more rare are reactors fueled with uranium-233 [13968-55-3] produced by neutron absorption in thorium-232 (see Nuclear reactors, nuclear fuel reserves). The chemical form of the reactor fuel typically is uranium dioxide, UO2, but uranium metal and other compounds have been used, including sulfates, siUcides, nitrates, carbides, and molten salts. 

Recent studies on the electrochemical behavior of plutonium in molten salts have mainly been performed in LiCl— KCl based melts. The electrorefining step in a pyroprocessing procedure for the recycling of nuclear fuel from the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) Program has been... 

Fused Salts. Salts (ie ionic compds) in the molten state. High temps are usually involved in maintaining the molten condition. Common salt is the principal ingredient of many fused salts. They have been used as a base for cir-culating liquid fuels in nuclear reactors and for many other purposes... 

Zirconium Fluoride (Zirconium Tetrafluoride), ZrF j mw 167.22 wh crysts, sp gr 4.43 mp 600°(subl) si sol in cold w decompd by hot w sol in HF. Can be prepd by treating ZrCl with anhyd HF or by thermal decompn of (NH )gZrF, which can be obtd by reacting ZrOg with NH HFg (Refs 1 3). Used as a component of molten salts for nuclear reactors Refs 1) Gmelin-Kraut Syst Number 42(1958), 278 2) Lange(1961), 332 3) Kirk ... 

Storability is another important attribute of the chemical fuel hydrogen. Hydrogen makes it possible to economically store over time—for the winter season, for example—energy derived from intermittent sources such as solar power. Hydrocarbons (natural gas, petroleum, coal) obviously are easy to store. But how do you store sunlight or the heat from a nuclear reactor Storage works very well in solar power tower plants, where heat is stored very efficiently in 24-hour, day-and-night cycles in molten salt storage tanks.2... 

EINECS 232-018-1 Zirconium fluoride Zirconium fluoride (ZrF4), (P4)- Zirconium tetrafluoride. Component of molten salts used in nuclear reactors. Solid mp = 640° bp = 905° d o4.6 LDso (mus orl) = 98 mg/kg. Atomergic Chemetals Cerac ElfAtochem N. Am. 

As it was mentioned, boron carbide containing enriched elemental boron ( B 65 at%) can serve as the control rod material in fast breeder nuclear reactors. Because boron carbide is fabricated by reacting elemental boron with carbon and the elemental boron in turn is produced by electro-winning process, Jain et al. (2011) have carried out studies to explore the viability of a high-temperature molten salt electro-winning process for the large-scale production of °B isotopically enriched elemental boron. It was established that elemental boron powder with a purity of better than 95 wt% could be produced. 

The most complete phase studies have been carried out on LiF-RFs and NaF-RFs systems in 1960-1970. This interest was mainly based on their importance in Molten-Salt Reactor Programs (e.g. Thoma and co-workers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA Keller and Schmutz of the Society of Nuclear Research in Karlsruhe, West Germany). Furthermore, some of the intermediate phases are suitable as host lattices for lasers, e.g. A(R R )F4, and up-conversion materials, e.g. A(R R R")F4. Magnetic properties of ARF4 phases have also been studied and are reviewed in the Gmelin Handbook (1976). A few NaRF4 phases show fluorescence after irradiation with cathodic rays. 

De Falco M, Barba D, Cosenza S, laquaniello G, Marrelli L (2008) Reformer and membrane modules plant powered by a nuclear reactor or by a solar heated molten salts assessment of the design variables and production cost evaluation. Int J Hydrogen Energy 33 5326-5334... 

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