The PyRO (Pyrochemical Research and Operations) Lab consists of 3 laboratory rooms with multiple gloveboxes (see picture above). One room is a shared laboratory with Nuclear Engineering Reactor Desing (NERD) Research Group, which synergistically works on molten salt reactors. Another room is being developed into the HEET (High-Efficiency Electrochemical Test) facility where hydrodynamic electrodes can be prototyped and tested for rapid, in situ corrosion and property measurements. The last room is the wet lab where bench-top aqueous systems can be used to rapidly test new equipment and samples for various chemical analyses can be prepared.
All gloveboxes contain an inert argon atmosphere which enable work with air- and moisture-sensitive materials, such as fluoride and chloride salts, and rare earth metals. The argon is provide from a liquid argon dewar (see picture to the left). The liquid argon slowly boils in the well-insulated tank creating an argon gas supply above the liquid argon in the dewar. This gradual and long-lasting supply is ideal for gloveboxes since they only need argon gas periodically due to thermal cycling and the pumping of gloves during material handling.