A Case for Nuclear Chemical Engineering in the Era of Fission and Fusion Reactors that Employ Molten Salts

Chemical engineers have been part of nuclear engineering activities since the birth of nuclear technologies, but “nuclear chemical engineering” as a concept has been largely absent from the vocabulary of nuclear engineers for the past 50 years. We list six key topics we define as constitutive of nuclear chemical engineering: (1) equilibrium thermodynamics, (2) fluid dynamics, heat and mass transport, (3) process design and controls, (4) chemical process safety and environment, (5) fuel cycle and waste management, and (6) chemistry and kinetics.

By describing these themes in the context of the history of nuclear engineering and chemical engineering, we make a case for the relevance of nuclear chemical engineering as a subtopic within the field of nuclear engineering. We illustrate these concepts as applied to the development and management of advanced fission reactors and fusion systems that employ molten salts.