General information
Organisation
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas :
• defence and security,
• nuclear energy (fission and fusion),
• technological research for industry,
• fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.
Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, and thanks to its 16000 technicians, engineers, researchers and staff, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.
The CEA is established in ten centers spread throughout France
Reference
SL-DES-24-0059
Thesis topic details
Category
Condensed Matter Physics, chemistry, nanosciences
Thesis topics
Study of molten chloride salt fast reactor fuel synthesis and purification
Contract
Thèse
Job description
Among a large variety of innovative reactor concepts used to decarbonize industry, a French fast reactor using molten chloride salts as fuel and primary coolant has been developed with a CEA-Orano collaboration. The reactor operates at temperature up to 600 °C in which actinides (An) are homogeneously dissolved in the liquid phase containing alkaline and alkaline earth chlorides. To feed it, an essential step is to produce the NaCl-MgCl2-AnCl3 fuel salt system without impurities to avoid corrosion and precipitations issues. The main aim is to study a way of producing molten salt fuel with a high purity level (as low contaminants content as possible). The first step is to synthesize and characterize actinide chlorides by a multi-scale approach (XRD, SEM, TGA-DSC, WDS…). Actinide chlorides are hygroscopic and easily absorb moisture from the environment. The reference synthesis route is a gas-solid reaction by hydrochlorination of actinide oxalate. The investigation of other synthesis methods is also planned in order to obtain less hygroscopic material. Synthesized products will studied by electrochemistry after dissolution in the molten salt phase to determine actinides purity and contaminants nature and content. A purification process is used as the last step to remove most of impurities from the molten salt. Purification issues are impurity content determination and the definition of salt purity criterion. Some physicochemical properties measurements could be performed with purified salts.
The applicant needs to have a master or engineer degree in materials and chemistry. He will join a multidisciplinary team dedicated to processes for the circular economy and work on a subject with strong international visibility and industrial potential. The student will benefit from scientific and technical expertise in the field of fuel recycling. The host laboratory is located at CEA Marcoule, near Avignon.
University / doctoral school
Sciences de la Matière, du Rayonnement et de l’Environnement (SMRE)
Lille I
Thesis topic location
Site
Marcoule
Requester
Position start date
01/10/2024
Person to be contacted by the applicant
Chevreux Pierrick pierrick.chevreux@cea.fr
CEA
DES/ISEC/DMRC/STDC/LRVE
CEA Marcoule
DES, ISEC, DMRC, STDC, LRVE
Bât. 57 - L107 (G1)
BP 17 171, 30 207 Bagnols sur Cèze CEDEX
04 66 79 62 79
Tutor / Responsible thesis director
RIVENET Murielle murielle.rivenet@ensc-lille.fr
ENSCL
Unite de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide - UMR 8181
Unité de Catalyse et de Chimie du Solide
Université Lille1
Cité Scientifique, Bâtiment C3
59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq cedex, France
03 20 33 64 35
En savoir plus