Separation of actinides from lanthanides utilizing molten salt electrorefining

Book · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:372094

Grimmett, D L; Fusselman, S P; Roy, J J; Gay, R L ^[1]; Krueger, C L; Storvick, T S ^[2]; Inoue, T; Hijikata, T ^[3]; Takahashi, N ^[4]

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1. Rockwell International, Canoga Park, CA (United States). Rocketdyne Div.
2. Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States). Research Reactor Facility
3. Central Research Inst. of Electric Power Industry, Tokyo (Japan). Komae Research Lab.
4. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Tokyo (Japan). Nuclear Systems Div.

TRUMP-S (TRansUranic Management through Pyropartitioning Separation) is a pyrochemical process being developed to separate actinides form fission products in nuclear waste. A key process step involving molten salt electrorefining to separate actinides from lanthanides has been studied on a laboratory scale. Electrorefining of U, Np, Pu, Am, and lanthanide mixtures from molten cadmium at 450 C to a solid cathode utilizing a molten chloride electrolyte resulted in > 99% removal of actinides from the molten cadmium and salt phases. Removal of the last few percent of actinides is accompanied by lowered cathodic current efficiency and some lanthanide codeposition. Actinide/lanthanide separation ratios on the cathode are ordered U > Np > Pu > Am and are consistent with predictions based on equilibrium potentials.

• OSTI ID: 372094
• Report Number(s): CONF-960202--; ISBN 0-87339-312-0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
AMERICIUM
ANODES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CADMIUM
CADMIUM CHLORIDES
CATHODES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHLORIDES
DEPOSITION
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELECTROREFINING
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
LIQUID METALS
LITHIUM CHLORIDES
MOLTEN SALTS
NEPTUNIUM
PLUTONIUM
POTASSIUM CHLORIDES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RARE EARTHS
URANIUM