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http://dx.doi.org/10.7733/jnfcwt.2019.17.3.347

Effect of the Composition of a Reduced Fuel on the Concentration Change of UCl3 in the Electrorefiner  

Paek, Seungwoo (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Lee, Chang-Hwa (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Lee, Sung-Jai (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
Publication Information
Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT) / v.17, no.3, 2019 , pp. 347-353 More about this Journal
Abstract
The composition of the reduced fuel produced in the electrolytic reduction process of pyroprocessing affects the concentration change of $UCl_3$, an important operating variable of the electrorefining process. In this study, we examined the concentration change of $UCl_3$ in the electrorefiner according to the content of TRU and RE elements in the reduced fuel and the concentration of $Li_2O$ introduced in the electrorefiner accompanied with the reduced fuel. Considering only the TRU and RE elements, the concentration of $UCl_3$ decreased with increasing the number of electrorefining operation batch. In order to operate one campaign (20 batches) of electrorefining process, it was found that additional injection of $UCl_3$ should be conducted more than 3 times. On the other hand, the concentration of $UCl_3$ in the electrorefiner changed significantly depending on the concentration of $Li_2O$ and, accordingly the number of operable electrorefining batches decreased rapidly, showing that the concentration of $Li_2O$ is an important operating variable in electrorefining. Therefore, the results of this study show that to maintain the concentration of $UCl_3$ in the electrorefiner, the operation mode should be set by taking into account the effect of $Li_2O$ as well as the TRU and RE elements contained in the reduced fuel.
Keywords
Electrolytic reduction; Reduced fuel; Concentration of $Li_2O$; Electrorefining; Concentration of $UCl_3$;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
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