Determination of the Oxygen Content in the LiF-NaF-KF Melt.

The present paper is dedicated to the quantitative determination of oxygen-containing impurities in the LiF-NaF-KF eutectic using electrochemical (cyclic and square-wave voltammetry) and reduction melting methods. The LiF-NaF-KF melt was analyzed before and after purifying electrolysis. The amount of oxygen-containing impurities removed from the salt during purification was determined. It was found that after electrolysis, the concentration of oxygen-containing impurities decreased by 7 times. The results obtained via electrochemical techniques and reduction melting were well-correlated, which made it possible to evaluate the quality of the LiF-NaF-KF F melt. To verify the analysis conditions, mechanical mixtures of LiF-NaF-KF containing Li2O were analyzed using the reduction melting method. The oxygen concentration in the mixtures varied from 0.672 to 2.554 wt. %. Based on the analysis results, the dependence approximated by the straight line was obtained. These data may be used to draw calibration curves and to further develop the procedure of oxygen analysis of fluoride melts.

High-Temperature Passivation of the Surface of Candidate Materials for MSR by Adding Oxygen Ions to FLiNaK Salt.

The problem of tailoring the structural materials for MSR is solved by continuously overcoming the shortcomings of widely used materials and finding new ones. The materials commonly used in engineering may not be applicable for MSR due to their high corrosivity. Experiments were carried out to determine the corrosion rate of stainless steel 12Cr18Ni10Ti with different concentrations of oxide ions (by adding lithium oxide to the melt in the concentration range from 0 to 0.8 wt.%) in a FLiNaK melt. The formation of a protective oxygen-containing layer with a thickness of 1 micron has been realized. The corrosion rate decreases by an order of magnitude at the concentration of oxygen anions in the melt, in the range from 0.2 to 0.4% by weight, which may indicate high-temperature passivation of the material due to modification of the composition of the fluoride melt and reduction in its corrosion activity. In addition, the corrosion type of stainless steel in fluoride melts changes from the intercrystalline and pitting that is usually harmful to reactor material structure to total corrosion when lithium oxide is added. This is due to the "healing" of individual corrosion defects formed on the surface of the studied material by oxygen-containing compounds.