The performance and properties of structural materials under molten salt reactor conditions will be the focus of research collaborations funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). With $9.25 million in funding, participants in the agency’s Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing program will use high-performance supercomputers to model corrosion behavior in molten salt reactors.

Traditionally, the simulation of nuclear energy systems has been based on empirical models, which requires extensive experimental data. While simulations based on empirical models can be run quickly, their use is constrained by the conditions of the experiments that provided the data. New multiscale/multiphysics modeling and simulation tools that rely more on underlying physics than on empirical models offer a more flexible approach. Given the wide range of proposed fission and fusion designs that could make use of molten salt, that flexibility is in demand.

According to the funding opportunity announcement, the initiative seeks a collaboration that will leverage existing knowledge, develop additional insight and ultimately provide a predictive tool to assist with alloy design that would account for modeling corrosion, high temperature behavior and radiation effects at the interface of a salt coolant with structural materials under molten salt reactor conditions.

Applications are open to DOE national laboratories as the lead institution with all accredited U.S. colleges and universities, national laboratories, nonprofits and private sector companies as collaborators.