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      Molten salt reactors have been a subject of research since the Nuclear Age began more than seventy years ago. There have been a number of research reactors built that utilize molten salts for coolant and heat transfer but, as yet, there are no commercial power reactors that use molten salts. There is a growing interest in changing that.
    Now proponents of molten say claim that such reactors could become the foundation of the future nuclear power -industry allowing utilities to generate low-carbon energy in a safe and efficient way. But before that could be possible, researchers really need to have a better understanding of how molten salt solution behave in nuclear environments.
    Boris Khaykovich is an experimental physicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is currently using neutron scattering at the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to test molten salt solutions that could be of use to scientists and engineers working on molten salt reactors. He is exploring fundamental chemical and physical properties of molten salts at elevated temperatures. He is collecting data which should permit him to create high-fidelity models that will predict how molten salt solutions might perform in the intense irradiated environment inside a molten salt reactor.
    Khaykovich has said that his models could prove critical to nuclear engineers working on the construction of commercial molten salt reactors for power generation. He hopes that the data generated by his experiments will allow him to assist colleagues in the design of salt solutions and also create diagnostic tools tailored for the operation of molten salt reactors.
     He said, “Molten salt reactors could help us harness nuclear power in a better way. This research will provide engineers with new tools for designing and constructing these devices.”
      The current generation of commercial nuclear power reactors operate by using the heat generated by nuclear fuel in the core to boil water. The steam is then used to drive a turbine which generates electricity. What are referred to as boiling water reactors boil water by circulating it through the core of the reactor. Pressurized boiling water reactors on the other hand have two circulating water loops. The primary loop circulates through the core and then is fed to a heat transfer system to boil high-temperature pressurized water in the secondary loop which then drives the turbine. Pressurized water reactors account for about sixty five percent of all the nuclear energy produced in the U.S.
     It is here that molten salt solutions could be utilized. Instead of being dependent on ultra-hot water which has to be kept under high pressure constantly, reactors could rely on molten salts for heat transfer. Molten salts can be raised to extremely high temperatures without ever boiling. This means that they are capable of generating electricity more efficiently, utilizing low pressure components. This should result in the generation of electricity at lower cost than current pressurized boiling water reactors are not capable matching.
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