A new way to identify salts in nuclear waste melters could help improve clean-up technology, including at the Hanford Site, one of the largest, most complex nuclear waste clean-up sites in the world.

and the salt crystals re-forming. Dissolving a solid in a liquid depends on the interactions and attractions between the molecules of the liquid (solvent) and the particles of the solid (solute).

Zinc oxide is a base, because it reacts with an acid to form a salt and water. It is not an alkali because it does not dissolve in water.

Chlorine, bromine and iodine are the three common Group 7 elements. Group 7 elements form salts when they react with metals. The term ‘halogen’ means ‘salt former’.