Electrochemical transient techniques for study of the electrochemistry and thermodynamics of nuclear materials in molten salts

Advantages and disadvantages of electrochemical transient techniques and potentiometry for the determination of formal standard potentials were discussed. It was shown that long potentiometric measurements inevitability led to strong interaction between oxide materials and melts involving actinide or lanthanide compounds. Reactions of disproportionation were observed in melts containing lower oxidation states due to the appearance of oxide ions from oxide materials, because actinides and lanthanides have a great affinity to oxygen. Only at the final stage of each experimental set, was the reference electrode immersed in the melt for a short time for the determination by electrochemical transient techniques and the melt being no longer used after these measurements. It was shown that electrochemical transient techniques in contradiction to potentiometry can be used for the determination of formal standard potentials for irreversible process and redox process accompanied by reaction of disproportionation.