Review of thermophysical property methods applied to fueled and un-fueled molten salts

Magnusson, Jared; Memmott, Matthew; Munro, Troy

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107608

Review of thermophysical property methods applied to fueled and un-fueled molten salts

Journal Article · Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Annals of Nuclear Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2020.107608· OSTI ID:1850573

Magnusson, Jared ^[1]; Memmott, Matthew ^[2]; ^[3]

Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States)
Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Recent investigation into designs of molten salt reactors (MSR) requires accurate data of candidate salts. Review of the literature shows lacking thermophysical (TP) property data for coolants and fuel-bearing salts of Advanced High Temperature Reactors (AHTR). Measurement uncertainties of current data are even more deficient, and this affects ongoing research where MSR modeling and testing are being performed. Melting temperature, viscosity, density, specific heat capacity, and thermal and electrical conductivity measurements are often not arranged together or discussed in great detail, especially for fuel-bearing salts. Raw data from key findings spanning over 70 years for LiF, LiF-BeF₂, LiF-NaF-KF, KCl-MgCl₂, KF-ZrF₄, and NaF-KF-MgF₂ have been organized and presented here. Brief description of methods used to obtain these results, in addition to the TP data of some of these salts as fuel carriers, has also been discussed. Thermal conductivity data are particularly weak due to older, high-error measurement techniques. More recent measurement systems to evaluate salt thermal conductivity show promise for obtaining consistent absolute values. This work concludes that measurement systems such as transient hot-wire method, forced Rayleigh scattering, and laser flash analysis provide the most promise to fill these data gaps and reduce current uncertainty in thermal conductivity measurements of both fueled and un-fueled molten salts.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); USDOE; USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

Grant/Contract Number:: NE0008870

OSTI ID:: 1850573

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1894957

Journal Information:: Annals of Nuclear Energy, Journal Name: Annals of Nuclear Energy Journal Issue: C Vol. 146; ISSN 0306-4549

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
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MSR
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Nuclear science & technology
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Review of thermophysical property methods applied to fueled and un-fueled molten salts

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