Rare Earth Electrochemical Property Measurements and Phase Diagram Development in a Complex Molten Salt Mixture for Molten Salt Recycle

Technical Report · Fri Mar 30 00:00:00 EDT 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1432448· OSTI ID:1432448

Zhang, Jinsuo ^[1]; Guo, Shaoqiang ^[2]

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1. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
2. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)

Pyroprocessing is a promising alternative for the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel (UNF) that uses electrochemical methods. Compared to the hydrometallurgical reprocessing method, pyroprocessing has many advantages such as reduced volume of radioactive waste, simple waste processing, ability to treat refractory material, and compatibility with fast reactor fuel recycle. The key steps of the process are the electro-refining of the spent metallic fuel in the LiCl-KCl eutectic salt, which can be integrated with an electrolytic reduction step for the reprocessing of spent oxide fuels.

• Research Organization: The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• DOE Contract Number: NE0008261
• OSTI ID: 1432448
• Report Number(s): 14-6489; 14-6489
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English