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The effect of oxychloride formation on the electroanalytical determination of chlorides in molten salts: an investigation of SmOCl in molten LiCl–KCl

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Abstract

Electroanalytical determination of chlorides in molten salts are often found to not have the accuracy needed for nuclear material monitoring. This was also observed in our studies on samarium trichloride. It was determined that a poorly soluble and relatively stable oxychloride that formed during our studies accounted for the loss of accuracy in the quantification of samarium trichloride. In this study, the spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of synthesized samarium oxychloride were investigated as they relate to the pyrochemical reprocessing of used nuclear fuel in the molten LiCl–KCl of eutectic composition. A qualitative, in situ investigation of oxychloride formation was conducted using electroanalytical voltammetry and Raman spectroscopy. These results were confirmed using synthesized oxychloride. The nature of oxychloride formation, solubility in the molten eutectic, implications in electrochemical processing, and the management of nuclear material in high-temperature systems are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the United States Department of Energy Department of Energy (DOE) under Contracts DE-NE0008236, DE-NE0008572, and DE-NE0008889, and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under Contract NRC-HQ-13-G-38-0027. Dr. Kenny Osborne and Ms. Nancy Hebron-Israel serve as the DOE and NRC award program managers, respectively. Materials Characterization Nevada (MCNV) facilities were used for solid-state characterization.

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  1. Materials Science and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557-0388, USA

    Vickram Singh, Christopher Bruneau, Zachary Karmiol, Jeremy Moon & Dev Chidambaram

  2. Nevada Institute of Sustainability, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557-0388, USA

    Dev Chidambaram

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  1. Vickram Singh
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  2. Christopher Bruneau
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  3. Zachary Karmiol
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  4. Jeremy Moon
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  5. Dev Chidambaram
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Correspondence to Dev Chidambaram.

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Singh, V., Bruneau, C., Karmiol, Z. et al. The effect of oxychloride formation on the electroanalytical determination of chlorides in molten salts: an investigation of SmOCl in molten LiCl–KCl. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 691–697 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08800-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-023-08800-z

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