A research team led by Pennsylvania State University has received $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to study three fission products — samarium, europium and tellurium — that can damage equipment in molten salt reactors.
Molten salt reactors can use fuel more efficiently than conventional pressurized water reactors and enable the recycling of spent materials. However, their highly reactive chemical environment creates corrosion risks. Samarium and europium can interfere with fuel recycling and reactor operation, while tellurium reacts with structural metals and accelerates corrosion.
The team, led by Professor Hojong Kim, will study the oxidation states of the three elements, which determine their chemical behavior. Experiments will be conducted under high-temperature pyroprocessing conditions in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno and Idaho National Laboratory.
A key tool in the project will be liquid bismuth. Previous research by Kim’s laboratory found that bismuth can act as a chemical “sponge,” selectively capturing rare-earth elements from molten salts.
If successful, the technology could help extend the operating life of advanced reactors, extract more energy from each gram of uranium and significantly reduce the volume of long-lived nuclear waste.
