CEA Saclay 1 article published in JoVE Chemistry Laser-heating and Radiance Spectrometry for the Study of Nuclear Materials in Conditions Simulating a Nuclear Power Plant Accident Dario Manara1, Luca Soldi1,2,4, Sara Mastromarino1,3,5, Kostantinos Boboridis1, Davide Robba1, Luka Vlahovic1, Rudy Konings1 1European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, 3Department of Chemical Physics, Sapienza - Università di Roma, 4CEA Saclay, 5TU Delft We present experiments in which real nuclear fuel, cladding, and containment materials are laser heated to temperatures beyond 3,000 K while their behavior is studied by radiance spectroscopy and thermal analysis. These experiments simulate, on a laboratory scale, the formation of a lava-phase following a nuclear reactor core meltdown.