Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) is one of Generation-IV nuclear reactors that uses molten salts as a fuel and coolant in liquid forms at high temperatures. The advantages of MSR, such as safety, economic feasibility, and scalability, are attributed from the fact that the molten salt fuel in a liquid state is chemically stable and has excellent thermo-physical properties. MSR combines the fuel and coolant by dissolving the actinides (U, Th, TRU, etc.) in the molten salt coolant, eliminating the possibility of a core meltdown accident due to loss of coolant (LOCA). Even if the molten salt fuel leaks, the radioactive fission products dissolved in the molten salt will solidify with the fuel salt at room temperature, preventing potential leakage to the outside. MSR was first demonstrated at ORNL starting with the Aircraft Reactor Experiment (ARE) in 1954 and was extended to the 7.4 MWth MSRE developed in 1964 and operated for 5 years. Recently, various start-ups, including TerraPower, Terrestrial Energy, Moltex Energy, and Seaborg, have been conducting research and development on various types of MSR, particularly focusing on its inherent safety and simplicity. While in the past, fluoride-based molten salt fuels were used for thermal neutron reactors, recently, a chlorine-based molten salt fuel with a relatively high solubility for actinides and advantageous for the transmutation of spent nuclear fuel and online reprocessing has been developing for fast neutron spectrum MSRs. This paper describes the development status of the process and equipment for producing highpurity UCl3, a fuel material for the chlorine-based molten salt fuel, and the development status of the gas fission product capturing technologies to remove the gaseous fission products generated during MSR operation. In addition, the results of the corrosion property evaluation of structural materials using a natural circulation molten salt loop will also be included.

FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) and Raman spectra of KJ-II bentonite provided by Clariant Korea were compared with those of MX-80 bentonite. The FTIR spectra were obtained using a Nicolet 5 FTIR spectrometer (Fisher Scientific) equipped with a diamond ATR (Attenuated Total Reflection) module. The spectra were collected for 64 scans with a resolution of 4 cm−1. Raman spectra were obtained using an optical microscope (Olympus, BX43) and a spectrometer (Andor, SR- 500). The laser beam was focused using an objective lens with a magnifying power of 50. The backscattered light from the sample was collected into an optical fiber with a core diameter of 0.4 mm. The Raman signals were recorded with CCDs (Andor, DV401A-BV for 532 nm laser wavelength and DV420A-OE for 638 and 785 nm laser wavelengths). Each pixel of CCD received the signal for 1 s and its 1000 times accumulated data were collected. The FTIR spectra of the two bentonite samples are very similar. The FTIR spectra of both bentonites showed absorption bands at 3623, 3399, 3231 cm−1 in the higher wavenumber region and at 1637, 1443, 1117, 997, 914, 887, 847, 797, 611, 515, 414 cm−1 in the lower wavenumber region. A sharp band at 3623 cm−1 and the strong band at 997 cm−1 correspond to the OH stretching of structural hydroxyl groups and the Si-O stretching vibration, respectively. In addition to these clear bands, several absorption bands observed in this experiment are well matched with the results reported in various literatures. Unlike the FTIR spectrum, it is not easy to observe the Raman bands of bentonite. The reason is that strong fluorescence interferes with the Raman spectrum. The two bentonite samples showed different fluorescence intensities. In the case of MX-80 bentonite, no clear Raman band was observed due to the influence of very strong fluorescence. KJ-II bentonite showed a relatively weak fluorescence intensity and Raman bands were partially visible at around 147, 260, 397, 709, and 1279 cm−1. In particular, the band at 1279 cm−1 is wide and sturdy. It was observed that the non-powder samples showed a better quality spectra. The Raman characteristics of KJ-II bentonite, which depend on the incident laser wavelength and the sample pretreatment, are discussed in detail.

Nanostructured ZnO materials have been studied extensively because of their functional properties. This paper presents a composite material of zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO QDs) and porous carbon using a one-step carbonization process. The direct carbonization of a metal–organic complex generates mesostructured porous carbon with a homogeneous distribution of ZnO QDs. The structural and morphological properties are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The resulting ZnO QDs@porous carbon composite delivers a high specific capacity of 990 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1, 357 mAh g−1 at 2 A g−1, and high reversibility when evaluated as an anode for lithium ion batteries.