Modeling Radiolysis Effects in FLiBe Molten Fluoride Salt

Molten fluoride salts, such as FLiBe, will potentially be used as fuel or coolant and breeding blankets in nuclear fission and fusion reactors. In this study, we demonstrate that radiation can alter the chemical properties of these salts by breaking complex fluorine structures. Measuring fluoroacidity, the amount of free fluoride ions available in the salt, reveals these impacts. Previous experiments have shown that fluoroacidity affects corrosion rates of metals in contact with these salts. However, the mechanistic details are not fully understood. Here we use molecular dynamics to emulate radiolysis in FLiBe. We analyze radial distribution functions to measure the change in fluoroacidity due to irradiation. The results for FLiBe show changes in chemical structure after the PKA; however, further analysis will quantify this change. We anticipate that this analysis will serve as a foundational assessment to understand the effect of radiolysis in FLiBe corrosion.