Measurements of the liquidus surface and solidus transitions of the NaCl-UCl3 and NaCl-UCl3-CeCl3 phase diagrams

E. S. Sooby; A. T. Nelson; J. T. White; P. M. McIntyre

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.07.050

Measurements of the liquidus surface and solidus transitions of the NaCl-UCl₃ and NaCl-UCl₃-CeCl₃ phase diagrams

E. S. Sooby
, A. T. Nelson
, J. T. White
, P. M. McIntyre

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

NaCl-UCl₃-PuCl₃ is proposed as the fuel salt for a number of molten salt reactor concepts. No experimental data exists for the ternary system, and limited data is available for the binary compositions of this salt system. Differential scanning calorimetry is used in this study to examine the liquidus surface and solidus transition of a surrogate fuel-salt (NaCl-UCl₃-CeCl₃) and to reinvestigate the NaCl-UCl₃ eutectic phase diagram. The results of this study show good agreement with previously reported data for the pure salt compounds used (NaCl, UCl₃, and CeCl₃) as well as for the eutectic points for the NaCl-UCl₃ and NaCl-CeCl₃ binary systems. The NaCl-UCl₃ liquidus surface produced in this study predicts a 30-40 ^°C increase on the NaCl-rich side of the binary phase diagram. The increase in liquidus temperature could prove significant to molten salt reactor modeling.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	280-285
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Nuclear Materials
Volume	466
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.07.050
State	Published - Aug 23 2015
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The work presented here was funded by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Seaborg Foundation . The authors thank the technical and scientific support of John Dunwoody, David Wayne, Ph.D, and Gordan Jarvinen, Ph.D. Special thanks are due to John Leckey, Ph.D. and his team at Y-12 for supplying the UCl 3 .

Keywords

Accelerator driven system
Liquidus surface
Molten salt reactor
NaCl-UCl
Phase diagram
Surrogate fuel salt
UCl

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.07.050

Cite this

@article{3dff571b26af44d7bcd1c8a483a2478c,

title = "Measurements of the liquidus surface and solidus transitions of the NaCl-UCl3 and NaCl-UCl3-CeCl3 phase diagrams",

abstract = "NaCl-UCl3-PuCl3 is proposed as the fuel salt for a number of molten salt reactor concepts. No experimental data exists for the ternary system, and limited data is available for the binary compositions of this salt system. Differential scanning calorimetry is used in this study to examine the liquidus surface and solidus transition of a surrogate fuel-salt (NaCl-UCl3-CeCl3) and to reinvestigate the NaCl-UCl3 eutectic phase diagram. The results of this study show good agreement with previously reported data for the pure salt compounds used (NaCl, UCl3, and CeCl3) as well as for the eutectic points for the NaCl-UCl3 and NaCl-CeCl3 binary systems. The NaCl-UCl3 liquidus surface produced in this study predicts a 30-40 °C increase on the NaCl-rich side of the binary phase diagram. The increase in liquidus temperature could prove significant to molten salt reactor modeling.",

keywords = "Accelerator driven system, Liquidus surface, Molten salt reactor, NaCl-UCl, Phase diagram, Surrogate fuel salt, UCl",

author = "Sooby, \{E. S.\} and Nelson, \{A. T.\} and White, \{J. T.\} and McIntyre, \{P. M.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.",

year = "2015",

month = aug,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.07.050",

language = "English",

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T1 - Measurements of the liquidus surface and solidus transitions of the NaCl-UCl3 and NaCl-UCl3-CeCl3 phase diagrams

AU - Sooby, E. S.

AU - Nelson, A. T.

AU - White, J. T.

AU - McIntyre, P. M.

PY - 2015/8/23

Y1 - 2015/8/23

N2 - NaCl-UCl3-PuCl3 is proposed as the fuel salt for a number of molten salt reactor concepts. No experimental data exists for the ternary system, and limited data is available for the binary compositions of this salt system. Differential scanning calorimetry is used in this study to examine the liquidus surface and solidus transition of a surrogate fuel-salt (NaCl-UCl3-CeCl3) and to reinvestigate the NaCl-UCl3 eutectic phase diagram. The results of this study show good agreement with previously reported data for the pure salt compounds used (NaCl, UCl3, and CeCl3) as well as for the eutectic points for the NaCl-UCl3 and NaCl-CeCl3 binary systems. The NaCl-UCl3 liquidus surface produced in this study predicts a 30-40 °C increase on the NaCl-rich side of the binary phase diagram. The increase in liquidus temperature could prove significant to molten salt reactor modeling.

AB - NaCl-UCl3-PuCl3 is proposed as the fuel salt for a number of molten salt reactor concepts. No experimental data exists for the ternary system, and limited data is available for the binary compositions of this salt system. Differential scanning calorimetry is used in this study to examine the liquidus surface and solidus transition of a surrogate fuel-salt (NaCl-UCl3-CeCl3) and to reinvestigate the NaCl-UCl3 eutectic phase diagram. The results of this study show good agreement with previously reported data for the pure salt compounds used (NaCl, UCl3, and CeCl3) as well as for the eutectic points for the NaCl-UCl3 and NaCl-CeCl3 binary systems. The NaCl-UCl3 liquidus surface produced in this study predicts a 30-40 °C increase on the NaCl-rich side of the binary phase diagram. The increase in liquidus temperature could prove significant to molten salt reactor modeling.

KW - Accelerator driven system

KW - Liquidus surface

KW - Molten salt reactor

KW - NaCl-UCl

KW - Phase diagram

KW - Surrogate fuel salt

KW - UCl

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