Molten salt extraction of transuranic and reactive fission products from used uranium oxide fuel
Abstract
Used uranium oxide fuel is detoxified by extracting transuranic and reactive fission products into molten salt. By contacting declad and crushed used uranium oxide fuel with a molten halide salt containing a minor fraction of the respective uranium trihalide, transuranic and reactive fission products partition from the fuel to the molten salt phase, while uranium oxide and non-reactive, or noble metal, fission products remain in an insoluble solid phase. The salt is then separated from the fuel via draining and distillation. By this method, the bulk of the decay heat, fission poisoning capacity, and radiotoxicity are removed from the used fuel. The remaining radioactivity from the noble metal fission products in the detoxified fuel is primarily limited to soft beta emitters. The extracted transuranic and reactive fission products are amenable to existing technologies for group uranium/transuranic product recovery and fission product immobilization in engineered waste forms.
- Inventors:
- Issue Date:
- Research Org.:
- Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1133050
- Patent Number(s):
- 8734738
- Application Number:
- 13/666,232; TRN: US1400435
- Assignee:
- U.S. Department of Energy (Washington, DC)
- Patent Classifications (CPCs):
-
C - CHEMISTRY C22 - METALLURGY C22B - PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS
G - PHYSICS G21 - NUCLEAR PHYSICS G21C - NUCLEAR REACTORS
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- Resource Type:
- Patent
- Resource Relation:
- Patent File Date: 2012 Nov 01
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
Citation Formats
Herrmann, Steven Douglas. Molten salt extraction of transuranic and reactive fission products from used uranium oxide fuel. United States: N. p., 2014.
Web.
Herrmann, Steven Douglas. Molten salt extraction of transuranic and reactive fission products from used uranium oxide fuel. United States.
Herrmann, Steven Douglas. Tue .
"Molten salt extraction of transuranic and reactive fission products from used uranium oxide fuel". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1133050.
@article{osti_1133050,
title = {Molten salt extraction of transuranic and reactive fission products from used uranium oxide fuel},
author = {Herrmann, Steven Douglas},
abstractNote = {Used uranium oxide fuel is detoxified by extracting transuranic and reactive fission products into molten salt. By contacting declad and crushed used uranium oxide fuel with a molten halide salt containing a minor fraction of the respective uranium trihalide, transuranic and reactive fission products partition from the fuel to the molten salt phase, while uranium oxide and non-reactive, or noble metal, fission products remain in an insoluble solid phase. The salt is then separated from the fuel via draining and distillation. By this method, the bulk of the decay heat, fission poisoning capacity, and radiotoxicity are removed from the used fuel. The remaining radioactivity from the noble metal fission products in the detoxified fuel is primarily limited to soft beta emitters. The extracted transuranic and reactive fission products are amenable to existing technologies for group uranium/transuranic product recovery and fission product immobilization in engineered waste forms.},
doi = {},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Tue May 27 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}
Works referenced in this record:
Separation of uranium from (Th,U)O.sub.2 solid solutions
patent, September 1976
- Chiotti, Premo; Jha, Mahesh C.
- US Patent Document 3,982,928
Process to separate transuranic elements from nuclear waste
patent, March 1989
- Johnson, Terry R.; Ackerman, John P.; Tomczuk, Zygmunt
- US Patent Document 4,814,046
Uranium chloride extraction of transuranium elements from LWR fuel
patent, August 1992
- Miller, William E.; Ackerman, John P.; Battles, James E.
- US Patent Document 5,141,723