• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.395-406
• /
• 2014

This study provides a fundamental understanding of a cold finger melt crystallization technique by exploring the heat and mass transfer processes of cold finger separation. A series of experiments were performed using a simplified LiCl-CsCl system by varying initial CsCl concentrations (1, 3, 5, and 7.5 wt%), cold finger cooling rates (7.4, 9.8, 12.3, and 14.9 L/min), and separation times (5, 10, 15, and 30 min). Results showed a potential recycling rate of 0.36 g/min with a purity of 0.33 wt% CsCl in LiCl. A CsCl concentrated drip formation was found to decrease crystal purity especially for smaller crystal formations. Dimensionless heat and mass transfer correlations showed that separation production is primarily influenced by convective transfer controlled by cooling gas flow rate, where correlations are more accurate for slower cooling gas flow rates.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.8
• /
• pp.3017-3026
• /
• 2022

The ¹³¹Cs radioisotope with a short half-life time and high average radiation energy can treat the cancer effectively in prostate brachytherapy. The typical ¹³¹Cs production processes have a separation step of the cesium from ¹³¹Ba to obtain a high specific radioactivity. Herein, we suggested a novel ¹³¹Cs separation method based on the Ba²⁺ adsorption of alginate beads. It is necessary to reduce the affinity of alginate beads to cesium ions for a high production yield. The carboxyl group of the alginate beads was replaced by a sulfonate group to reduce the cesium affinity while reinforcing their affinity to barium ions. The modified beads exhibited superior Ba²⁺ adsorption performances to native beads. In the fixed-bed column tests, the saturation time and adsorption capacity could be estimated with the Yoon-Nelson model in various injection flow rates and initial concentrations. In terms of the Cs elution, the modified alginate showed better performance (i.e., an elution over 88%) than the native alginate (i.e., an elution below 10%), indicating that the functional group modification was effective in reducing the affinity to cesium ions. Therefore, the separation of cesium from the barium using the modified alginate is expected to be an additional option to produce ¹³¹Cs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.675-682
• /
• 2013

The sequential separation process, composed of an oxygen sparging process for separating lanthanides and a zone freezing process for separating Group I and II fission products, was evaluated and tested with a surrogate eutectic waste salt generated from pyroprocessing of used metal nuclear fuel. During the oxygen sparging process, the used lanthanide chlorides (Y, Ce, Pr and Nd) were converted into their sat-insoluble precipitates, over 99.5% at $800^{\circ}C$; however, Group I (Cs) and II (Sr) chlorides were not converted but remained within the eutectic salt bed. In the next process, zone freezing, both precipitation of lanthanide precipitates and concentration of Group I/II elements were preformed. The separation efficiency of Cs and Sr increased with a decrease in the crucible moving speed, and there was little effect of crucible moving speed on the separation efficiency of Cs and Sr in the range of a 3.7 - 4.8 mm/hr. When assuming a 60% eutectic salt reuse rate, over 90% separation efficiency of Cs and Sr is possible, but when increasing the eutectic salt reuse rate to 80%, a separation efficiency of about 82 - 86 % for Cs and Sr was estimated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.7
• /
• pp.867-874
• /
• 2015

Separation of cesium chloride (CsCl) and strontium chloride ($SrCl_2$) from the lithium chloride-potassium chloride (LiCl-KCl) salt was studied using a melt crystallization process similar to the reverse vertical Bridgeman growth technique. A ternary $SrCl_2-LiCl-KCl$ salt was explored at similar growth rates (1.8-5 mm/h) and compared with CsCl ternary results to identify similarities. Quaternary experiments were also conducted and compared with the ternary cases to identify trends and possible limitations to the separations process. In the ternary case, as much as 68% of the total salt could be recycled per batch process. In the quaternary experiments, separation of Cs and Sr was nearly identical at the slower rates; however, as the growth rate increased, $SrCl_2$ separated more easily than CsCl. The quaternary results show less separation and rate dependence than in both ternary cases. As an estimated result, only 51% of the total salt could be recycled per batch. Furthermore, two models have been explored to further understand the growth process and separation. A comparison of the experimental and modeling results reveals that the nonmixed model fits reasonably well with the ternary and quaternary data sets. A dimensional analysis was performed and a correlation was identified to semipredict the segregation coefficient.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.10-13
• /
• 2016

In this study, we developed a new volume reduction technique for cesium contaminated soil by magnetic separation. Cs in soil is mainly adsorbed on clay which is the smallest particle constituent in the soil, especially on paramagnetic 2:1 type clay minerals which strongly adsorb and fix Cs. Thus selective separation of 2:1 type clay with a superconducting magnet could enable to reduce the volume of Cs contaminated soil. The 2:1 type clay particles exist in various particle sizes in the soil, which leads that magnetic force and Cs adsorption quantity depend on their particle size. Accordingly, we examined magnetic separation conditions for efficient separation of 2:1 type clay considering their particle size distribution. First, the separation rate of 2:1 type clay for each particle size was calculated by particle trajectory simulation, because magnetic separation rate largely depends on the objective size. According to the calculation, 73 and 89 % of 2:1 type clay could be separated at 2 and 7 T, respectively. Moreover we calculated dose reduction rate on the basis of the result of particle trajectory simulation. It was indicated that 17 and 51 % of dose reduction would be possible at 2 and 7 T, respectively. The difference of dose reduction rate at 2 T and 7 T was found to be separated a fine particle. It was shown that magnetic separation considering particle size distribution would contribute to the volume reduction of contaminated soil.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.341-344
• /
• 1999

We reported compositional separation(CS) into Co-enriched and Cri-enriched components inside the grains of Co-Cr based thin films prepared by rf sputtering. CS strongly depends on the sputtering conditions of substrate temperature and target composition. Tuning the microstructure of the Co-Cr films is important in order to employ the CS for high-density magnetic recording. We investigated the origin of CS from thermodynamic viewpoint. We employ a spinodal decomposition-like model to describe the origin of the CS in Co-Cr films. We consider the total free energy of the Co-Cr films as the sum of several free energies of; 1) thermodynamic mixing entropy of a binary solid solution, 2) magnetic ordering interaction(MOI) energy below the Curie temperature, and 3) excess interaction energy(XS) caused by the sputtering process as a function of temperature and composition. Those energies distorted the total free energy like the spinodal decomposition and caused the compositionally separated fine microstructure inside the grains. If the second derivative of the total free energy with respect to Cr composition becomes negative at a given substrate temperature, we may observe a metastable compositional separation inside the Co-Cr alloy films. We expect to exploit the microstructure of CS for ultra-high density magnetic recording.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.1513-1520
• /
• 2013

Novel chitosan (CS) based membrane networks were developed by solution casting and followed by crosslinking with different crosslinkers such as glutaraldehyde, urea-formaldehyde, and thiourea-formaldehyde. The developed membrane networks were designated as CS-GA, CS-UF and CS-TF. Crosslinking reaction of CS membranes was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Membrane rigidity and compactness were studied by the differential scanning calorimetry. The surface morphology of CS membranes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The sorption behaviour with respect to contact time, initial pH and initial metal ion concentration were investigated. The maximum adsorption capacity of CS-GA, CS-UF and CS-TF sorbents was found to be 1.03, 1.2 and 1.18 mM/g for $Cu^{2+}$ and 1.48, 1.55 and 2.18 mM/g for $Ni^{2+}$ respectively. Swelling experiments have been performed on the membrane networks at $30^{\circ}C$. Desorption studies were performed in acid media and EDTA and it was found that the membranes are reusable for the metal ion removal for three cycles. The developed membranes could be successfully used for the separation of $Cu^{2+}$ and $Ni^{2+}$ metal ions from aqueous solutions.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.57-63
• /
• 2010

Layer crystallization process was tested for the separation(or concentration) of cesium and strontium fission products in a LiCl waste salt generated from an electrolytic reduction process of a spent oxide fuel. In a crystallization process, impurities (CsCl and $SrCl_2$) are concentrated in a small fraction of the LiCl salt by the solubility difference between the melt phase and the crystal phase. Based on the phase diagram of LiCl-CsCl-$SrCl_2$ system, the separation possibility by using crystallization was determined and the molten salt temperature profile during layer crystallization operation was predicted by using mathematical calculation. In the layer crystallization process, the crystal growth rate strongly affects the crystal structure and therefore the separation efficiency. In the conditions of about 20-25 l/min cooling air flow rate and less than 0.2g/min/$cm^2$ crystal flux, the separation efficiency of both CsCl and $SrCl_2$ showed about 90% by the layer crystallization process, assuming a LiCl salt reuse rate of 90wt%.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.123-130
• /
• 2019

We investigated the electrochemical behavior of an electrode coated with a nickel hexacyanoferrate/graphene oxide (NiPB/GO) composite to evaluate its potential use for the electrochemical separation of radioactive Cs as a promising approach for reducing secondary Cs waste after decontamination. The NiPB/GO-modified electrode showed electrochemically switched ion exchange capability with excellent selectivity for Cs over other alkali metals. Furthermore, the repetitive ion insertion and desertion test for assessing the electrode stability showed that the electrochemical ion exchange capacity of the NiPB/GO-modified electrode increased further with potential cycling in 1 M of $NaNO_3$. In particular, this electrochemical treatment enhanced Cs uptake by nearly two times compared to that of NiPB/GO and still retained the ion selectivity of NiPB, suggesting that the electrochemically treated NiPB/GO composite shows promise for nuclear wastewater treatment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.395-408
• /
• 2018

Even after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the rate of production of electric energy using nuclear energy is increasing, but there is a great danger such as the radioactive waste produced when using nuclear power, the catastrophic accident of nuclear power plant, and connection with nuclear weapons. In particular, Cs present in the ionic form of alkaline elements has a long half-life (30.17 years) because it is readily absorbed by the organism and emits intense gamma rays, thus presenting a serious radiation hazard. Therefore, it must be completely removed before it can be released into the natural ecosystem, because it can adversely affect not only humans but also natural ecosystems. Many adsorbents and ion exchangers which have high Cs removal efficiency have been used in recent years to completely separate and remove by self separation in water. Many adsorbents and ion exchangers which have high Cs removal efficiency have been used in recent years to completely separate and remove by self separation in water. In addition, researches have been doing to synthesize magnetic materials with adsorbents such as HCF and PB, and it shows a great effect in the removal rate of Cs present in wastewater or the maximum Cs adsorption amount. In particular, when a magnetic material was applied, excellent results were obtained in which only Cs was selectively removed from other cations. However, new problems such as applicability in the sea where Cs is directly released, applicability in various pH ranges, and failure to preserve the magnetizing force possessed by the magnetic body have been found. However, researches using ferromagnetic field with stronger magnetic properties than those of magnetic bodies is considered to be insufficient. Therefore, it is considered that if the researches combining the ferromagnetic field with the magnetization ability and functional adsorbents more actively, the radioactive material Cs which adversely affects the natural ecosystem can be effectively removed.