Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Rare earth removal from pyroprocessing fuel product for preparing MSR fuel

  • Received : 2023.06.26
  • Accepted : 2023.12.10
  • Published : 2024.03.25
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Abstract

A series of experiments were performed to produce a fuel source for a molten salt reactor (MSR) through pyroprocessing technology. A simulated LiCl-KCl-UCl3-NdCl3 salt system was prepared, and the U element was fully recovered using a liquid cadmium cathode (LCC) by applying a constant current. As a result, the salt was purified with an UCl3 concentration lower than 100 ppm. Subsequently, the U/RE ingot was prepared by melting U and RE metals in Y2O3 crucible at 1473 K as a surrogate for RE-rich ingot product from pyroprocessing. The produced ingot was sliced and used as a working electrode in LiCl-KCl-LaCl3 salt. Only RE elements were then anodically dissolved by applying potential at - 1.7 V versus Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The RE-removed ingot product was used to produce UCl3 via the reaction with NH4Cl in a sealed reactor.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korea Government (Ministry of Science and ICT) [Grant Number RS-2023-00261146 and RS-2022-00155169].

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