• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제43권6호
• /
• pp.547-556
• /
• 2011

Two computational methods for determining equilibrium states for the Mark-IV electrorefiner (ER) have been assessed to improve the current computational electrorefiner model developed at University of Idaho. Both methods were validated against measured data to better understand their effects on the calculation of the equilibrium compositions in the ER. In addition, a sensitivity study was performed on the effect of specific unknown activity coefficients-including sodium in molten cadmium, zirconium in molten cadmium, and sodium chloride in molten LiCl-KCl. Both computational methods produced identical results, which stayed within the 95% confidence interval of the experimental data. Furthermore, sensitivity to unavailable activity coefficients was found to be low (a change in concentration of less than 3 ppm).

• 방사성폐기물학회지
• /
• 제17권3호
• /
• pp.347-353
• /
• 2019

파이로프로세싱의 전해환원공정에서 생산된 금속전환체의 조성은 전해정련공정 운전의 중요한 운전변수인 용융염 중 $UCl_3$의 농도변화에 영향을 미친다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 금속전환체에 함유된 TRU와 RE 원소의 함량 및 금속전환체에 동반되어 전해정련 전해조에 유입될 수 있는 $Li_2O$ 농도가 전해정련 전해조의 $UCl_3$ 농도 변화에 미치는 영향을 검토하였다. 금속전환체의 TRU 원소와 RE 원소의 농도만을 고려하였을 때 전해정련 운전 batch 수 증가에 따라 $UCl_3$ 농도가 감소하였다. 전해정련 1 campaign(20 batch)를 운전하기 위해서는 $UCl_3$를 3회 이상 추가 보충해야 함을 알 수 있었다. 한편, 금속전환체에 동반되어 전해정련 전해조에 유입되는 $Li_2O$의 유입량 증가에 따라 $UCl_3$ 농도 감소의 영향이 크게 나타났으며, 이에 따라 운전 가능 batch 수가 급격히 감소하게 되어 전해정련 운전에 중요한 운전 변수임을 보여주었다. 이러한 결과는 전해정련 운전 중 $UCl_3$ 농도 유지를 위해 금속전환체에 포함된 TRU 및 RE 원소뿐만 아니라 금속전환체에 동반되어 유입될 가능성이 있는 $Li_2O$의 영향도 고려하여 전해정련 운전모드를 설정하여야 함을 보여주었다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제40권3호
• /
• pp.175-182
• /
• 2008

The results of process development for the blending of waste salt from the electrorefining of spent fuel with zeolite-A are presented. This blending is a key step in the ceramic waste process being used for treatment of EBR-II spent fuel and is accomplished using a high-temperature v-blender. A labscale system was used with non-radioactive surrogate salts to determine optimal particle size distributions and time at temperature. An engineering-scale system was then installed in the Hot Fuel Examination Facility hot cell and used to demonstrate blending of actual electrorefiner salt with zeolite. In those tests, it was shown that the results are still favorable with actinide-loaded salt and that batch size of this v-blender could be increased to a level consistent with efficient production operations for EBR-II spent fuel treatment. One technical challenge that remains for this technology is to mitigate the problem of material retention in the v-blender due to formation of caked patches of salt/zeolite on the inner v-blender walls.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권6호
• /
• pp.2004-2010
• /
• 2022

Quantification of sensitive material is of vital importance when it comes to the movement of nuclear fuel throughout its life cycle. Within the electrorefiner vessel of electrochemical separation facilities, the task of quantifying plutonium by neutron analysis is especially challenging due to it being in a constant mixture with curium. It is for this reason that current neutron multiplicity methods would prove ineffective as a safeguards measure. An alternative means of plutonium verification is investigated that utilizes the (𝛼,n) signature that comes as a result of the eutectic salt within the electrorefiner. This is done by utilizing the multiplicity variable a and breaking it down into its constituent components: spontaneous fission neutrons and (𝛼,n) yield. From there, the (𝛼,n) signature is related to the plutonium content of the fuel.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
• /
• 제8권1호
• /
• pp.71-76
• /
• 2010

사용후핵연료로부터 유용한 물질을 회수하는 파이로 공정의 주요 공정 중 하나인 전해정련 기술과 국내의 전해정련 장치 개발에 대해 고찰하였다. 전해정련 반응은 LiCl-KCl 용융염 전해질 내에 우라늄과 초우란금속 및 희토류 등을 함유하는 사용후핵연료 금속전환체를 담은 양극 바스켓과 고체음극으로 구성되고, 양극에서 는 산화(용해)반응이 음극에서는 환원(석출)반응이 진행되며 순수한 우라늄만을 회수한다. 흑연음극이 가진 자발탈리하는 특성과 아래로 모아진 우라늄 석출물을 스크류 이송장치로 자동 회수하는 개념을 도입하여 처리용량이 20 kgU/day 규모의 연속식 고성능 전해정련장치를 개발하였다.

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2006년도 학술논문요약집
• /
• pp.178-178
• /
• 2006

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2007년도 학술논문요약집
• /
• pp.277-278
• /
• 2007

• 한국방사성폐기물학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국방사성폐기물학회 2017년도 춘계학술논문요약집
• /
• pp.83-83
• /
• 2017

Electrorefining is a key step in pyroprocessing. The electrorefining process is generally composed of two recovery steps - the deposit of uranium onto a solid cathode and the recovery of the remaining uranium and TRU elements simultaneously by a liquid cadmium cathode. The solid cathode processing is necessary to separate the salt from the cathode since the uranium deposit in a solid cathode contains electrolyte salt. Distillation process was employed for the cathode processing. It is very important to increase the throughput of the salt separation system due to the high uranium content of spent nuclear fuel and high salt fraction of uranium dendrites. In this study, a mesh-covered crucible was investigated for the sat distillation of electrorefiner uranium deposits. A liquid salt separation step and a vacuum distillation step were combined for salt separation. The adhered salt in uranium deposits was efficiently removed in the mesh-covered crucible. The salt distiller was operated simply since repeated cooling - heating step was not necessary for the change of the crucible. The operation time could be reduced by the use of the mesh-covered crucible and the combined operation of the two steps. A method to preserve a vacuum level was proposed by double O-rings during the operation of the distiller with the mesh-covered crucible. After the salt distillation, the salt content was measured and was below 0.1wt% after the salt distillation. The residual salt after the salt distillation can be removed further during melting of uranium metal.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제52권7호
• /
• pp.1452-1461
• /
• 2020

A triple bubbler sensor was tested in LiCl-KCl molten salt from 450 to 525 ℃ in a transparent furnace to validate thermal-expansion corrections and provide additional molten salt data sets for calibration and validation of the sensor. In addition to these tests, a model was identified and further developed to accurately determine the density, surface tension, and depth from the measured bubble pressures. A unique feature of the model is that calibration constants can be estimated using independent depth measurements, which allow calibration and validation of the sensor in an electrorefiner where the salt density and surface tension are largely unknown. This model and approach were tested using the current and previous triple bubbler data sets, and results indicate that accuracies are as high as 0.03%, 4.6%, and 0.15% for density, surface tension, and depth, respectively.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
• /
• 제16권1호
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2018

A simplified flowsheet for pyroprocessing commercial spent fuel is proposed in which the only salt treatment step is actinide drawdown from electrorefiner salt. Actinide drawdown can be performed using a simple galvanic reduction process utilizing the reducing potential of gadolinium metal. Recent results of equilibrium reduction potentials for Gd, Ce, Nd, and La are summarized. A description of a recent experiment to demonstrate galvanic reduction with gadolinium is reviewed. Based on these experimental results and material balances of the flowsheet, this new variant of the pyroprocessing scheme is expected to meet the objectives of minimizing cost, maximizing processing rate, minimizing proliferation risk, and optimizing the utilization of geologic repository space.