Research Structure
Our research is organized as three interacting research thrusts and a crosscutting theme, as shown in the figure. MSEE integrates unique molten salts capabilities and sophisticated characterization methods based at three national laboratories with specialized expertise of six universities to advance research in these thrusts.
Research Thrust 1 (RT1)
Molten Salt Structure, Dynamics, and Properties
Thrust 1 establishes the molecular-scale picture of how molten salts are structured, how ions move through them, and how these features determine bulk properties in reactor-relevant mixtures.
Research Thrust 2 (RT2)
Speciation and Redox Processes in Molten Salt Environments
Thrust 2 investigates how dissolved species — actinides, fission corrosion products, nanoparticles, and impurities — together with radiation-driven redox processes, shape the chemistry of molten salt environments.
Research Thrust 3 (RT3)
Interfacial Phenomena in Molten Salt Environments
Thrust 3 investigates how molten salts interact with metals and model materials at liquid-solid interfaces, where structure, chemistry, and transport together determine corrosion, interfacial evolution, and materials compatibility.
Crosscutting Theme (CT)
Radiation-Driven Processes
The crosscutting radiation theme examines how ionizing radiation reshapes molten salt chemistry from the first moments after energy deposition to the longer-term evolution of redox state, speciation, transport, and interfacial behavior.
Molten Salt Samples
An important requirement for successful molten salt research is access to the highest-quality salts available, to avoid deleterious chemical and thermophysical effects of common impurities (moisture, oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, etc.) MSEE includes leading U.S. laboratories in molten salt synthesis — Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and the Dai Lab at University of Tennesee, Knoxville — and limits the provenance of each studied salt to one source to ensure consistent samples and to achieve reliability in the measurements and scientific conclusions.
