Modeled Salt Density for Nuclear Material Estimation in the Treatment of Spent Nuclear Fuel
Spent metallic nuclear fuel is being treated in a pyrometallurgical process that includes electrorefining the uranium metal in molten eutectic LiCl-KCl as the supporting electrolyte. We report a model for determining the density of the molten salt. Inventory operations account for the net mass of salt and for the mass of actinides present. It was necessary to know the molten salt density but difficult to measure, and it was decided to model the salt density for the initial treatment operations. The model assumes that volumes are additive for the ideal molten salt solution as a starting point; subsequently a correction factor for the lanthanides and actinides was developed. After applying the correction factor, the percent difference between the net salt mass in the electrorefiner and the resulting modeled salt mass decreased from more than 4.0% to approximately 0.1%. As a result, there is no need to measure the salt density at 500 C for inventory operations; the model for the salt density is found to be accurate.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 990831
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-09-16952; JNUMAM; TRN: US1007398
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 404, Issue 1; ISSN 0022-3115
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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