Research

1. Materials Compatibility :

• Between Fuel and Coolant
  • Fuel-coolant chemical reactions, source term release from fuel to coolant
• Between Fuel and Cladding
  • Fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI) is one of the major cladding degradation of advance metallic fuel because of the chemical reactions between nuclear fuel/fission products and stainless steel cladding
• Between Coolant and Cladding/Structural Materials
  • Material degradation and corrosion by coolant, for example, Nickel-based alloys can not be used as structrural materials for liquid-lead/lead-bismuth-cooled reactor because the high solubility of Ni in the liquid metal/alloy
• Between Fuel Pin Gap materials and Fuel
  • Liquid lead can not be used as gap material for oxide fuel, because of the transfer of oxygen

2. Nuclear Fuel Cycle :

• Used Fuel Dry Storage
  • Canister degradation, cladding hydrogen embrittlement
• Electrochemical Separation
  • Used Metal fuel, oxide fuel and nitride fuel treatment
• Molten salt reactor (MSR) on-line purification
  • Coolant impurity removal
• Advanced Nuclear Coolant Chemistry Control
  • Oxygen control in Liquid metal, Redox control in molten salt

3. Nuclear Coolants:

• Liquid metal (Na, Pb, Pb-Bi)
  • Corrosion (loop global corrosion, local corrosion, etc)
  • Interactions with fuel (Material release from the fuel)
  • Chemistry control (oxygen control)
  • Source term release (solubility measurement, thermodynamic properties, transport in the coolant, retention capability)
• Molten Salt (Chloride Salts, Fluoride Salts)
  • Corrosion (corrosion mechanisms, materials transport)
  • Physical properties (density, viscosity, etc)
  • Chemistry control (fission products chemistry, redox control)
  • Source term release (fission product properties, retention capability)
• High-temperature Water
  • Stress corrosion cracking
  • Water-fuel interaction

4. Fuel Materials:

• Metal Fuels (U-Zr)
  • Interactions with coolant (source term release)
  • Fuel-cladding-Chemical interactions (FCCIs)
  • New fuel alloy development (adding additives for mitigating FCCIs)
  • Pyroprocessing used metal fuels
• Nitride fuel
  • Interactions with coolant
  • Pyroprocessing used nitride fuels

• Oxide fuels
  • Interactions with coolant
  • Source term release
  • Novel cladding materials development (MMLC) for accident to tolerant fuels