Cadmium transport through molten salts in the reprocessing of spent fuel for the integral fast reactor

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Nuclear Technology; (United States)

OSTI ID:6761056

Goff, K M; Schneider, A ^[1]; Battles, J E ^[2]

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1. Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta (United States)
2. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

The reprocessing of spent fuel from the Integral Fast Reactor is to be accomplished with a pyrochemical process employing molten LiCl-KCl salt covering a pool of cadmium. An examination of this system demonstrates that cadmium metal is soluble to a small extent in this salt and that it diffuses through the salt covering and vaporizes at the surface. The cadmium is soluble in the salt because of either chemical or physical solubility, both of which are dependent on the salt's surface tension. Mixing increases the vaporization rate of the cadmium by increasing its transport to the salt surface. The cadmium vapors can therefore be reduced by decreasing the mixing conditions, by choosing a salt with a higher surface tension so that the cadmium is less soluble, or by decreasing the temperature of the system, thereby lowering the vapor pressure of the cadmium.

• OSTI ID: 6761056
• Journal Information: Nuclear Technology; (United States), Vol. 102:3; ISSN 0029-5450
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
CADMIUM
DIFFUSION
IFR REACTOR
SPENT FUELS
MOLTEN SALTS
ATOM TRANSPORT
PYROCHEMICAL REPROCESSING
ANL
EVAPORATION
MIXING
SOLUBILITY
VAPORS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FLUIDS
FUELS
GASES
MATERIALS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEUTRAL-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR FUELS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
RADIATION TRANSPORT
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
REPROCESSING
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SALTS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
ZERO POWER REACTORS
050800* - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing