• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.49 no.8
• /
• pp.1727-1732
• /
• 2017

Pyroprocessing is an alternative method of reprocessing spent fuel, usually involving the dissolving spent fuel in a molten salt media. The National Nuclear Laboratory designed, built, and commissioned a molten salt dynamics rig to investigate the transfer characteristics of molten lithium chloride-potassium chloride eutectic salt. The efficacy and flow characteristics of a high-temperature centrifugal pump and argon gas lift were obtained for pumping the molten salt at temperatures up to $500^{\circ}C$. The rig design proved suitable on an industrial scale and transfer methods appropriate for use in future molten salt systems. Corrosion within the rig was managed, and melting techniques were optimized to reduce stresses on the rig. The results obtained improve the understanding of molten salt transport dynamics, materials, and engineering design issues and support the industrialization of molten salts pyroprocessing.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.133-136
• /
• 2009

A newly designed Ag/$Ag^+$ reference electrode in a quartz tube with a tungsten tip junction (W-tip-Quartz- REF) was fabricated and its electrochemical performance was compared with a conventional Pyrex tube-based Ag/$Ag^+$ reference electrode (Py-REF). The results of the electrochemical potential measurements with the W-tip-Quartz- REF and the Py-REF in the LiCl-KCl eutectic melts for a wide temperature range proved that the oxide layer on the surface of the tungsten metal tip provided a high ionic conduction. Stability of our newly designed W-tip- Quartz-REF was tested by measuring a junction potential for 12 hours at 700${^{\circ}C}$. The results of the cyclic voltammetric measurement indicated that the Ag/$Ag^+$ reference electrode in the quartz tube with a tungsten tip junction can provide a good performance for a wide temperature range.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.7
• /
• pp.467-472
• /
• 2015

Thermal batteries are primary power sources for military applications requiring high reliability, robustness and long storage life. Conventional electrodes for thermal batteries are prepared by compacting powder mixtures into pellets. Separator is composed of halide mixture, such as LiCl-KCl eutectic salt, blended with MgO to immobilize the molten salt. In order to increase the power density and energy density, the resistance of electrolyte should be reduced because the resistance of electrolyte is predominant in thermal batteries. In this study, wetting behaviors and impregnation weight of molten salts as well as the micro structures of ceramic felt were investigated to be applicable to thin electrolyte. Discharge performances of single cell with the ceramic separator impregnated by molten salt were evaluated also. Zirconia felt with high porosity and large pore outperformed alumina felt in wetting characteristics and molten salt impregnation as well as discharge performances. Based on the results of this study, ceramic felt separator impregnated with molten salt have revealed as an alternative of conventional thick MgO based separator with no conspicuous sign of thermal runaway by short circuit.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.543-553
• /
• 1992

Properties of unitary ATP-sensitive $K^+$ channels were studied using planar lipid bilayer technique. Vesicles were prepared from bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) skeletal muscle. ATP-sensitive $K^+$ (K (ATP)) channels were identified by their unitary conductance and sensitivity to ATP. In the symmetrical solution containing 200mM KCI, 10mM Hepes, 1mM EGTA and pH 7.2, single K (ATP) channels showed a linear current-voltage relations with slight inward rectification. Slope conductance at reversal potential was $60.1{\pm}0.43$ pS(n=3)). Micromolar ATP reversibly inhibited the channel activity when applied to the cytoplasmic side. In the range of -50~＋50 mV, the channel activity was not voltage-dependent, but the channel gating within a burst was more frequent at negative voltage range. Varying the concentrations of external/internal KCl(mM) to 40/200, 200/200, 200/100 and 200/40 shifted reversal potentials to $-30.8{\pm}2.9$(n=3), $-1.1{\pm}2.7$(n=3), 10.5 and 30.6(mV), respecrivety. These reversal potentials were close to the expected values by the Nernst equation, indicating nearly ideal selectivity for $K^+$ over $Cl^-$. Under bi-ionic conditions of 200mM external test ions and 200mM internal $K^+$, the reversal potentials for each test ion/K pair were measured. The measured reversal potentials were used for the calculation of the releative permeability of alkali cations to $K^+$ ions using the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation. The permeability sequence of 5 cations relative to $K^+$ was $K^+$(1), $Rb^+$(0.49), $Cs^+$(0.27), $Na^+$(0.027) and $Li^+$(0.021). This sequence was recognized as Eisenman's selectivity sequence IV. In addition, modelling the permeation of $K^+$ ion through ATP-sensitive $K^+$ channel revealed that a 3-barrier 2-site multiple occupancy model can reasonably predict the observed current-voltage relations.

• 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.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.49-56
• /
• 2010

In the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuels, LiCl-KCl waste salt containing radioactive rare earth chlorides are generated. The radioactive rare earth oxides are recovered by co-oxidative precipitation of rare earth elements. The powder phase of rare eath oxide waste must be immobilized to produce a monolithic wasteform suitable for storage and ultimate disposal. The immobilization of these waste developed in this study involves a solid state sintering of the waste with host borosilicate glass and zinc titanate based ceramic matrix(ZIT). And the rare-earth monazite which synthesised by reaction of ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate with the rare earth oxides waste, were immobilzed with the borosilicate glass. It is shown that the developed ZIT ceramic wasteform is highly resistant the leaching process, high density and thermal conductivity.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.378-383
• /
• 2016

Background: Radiation dose rates in PRIDE facility is evaluated quantitatively for assessing radiation safety of workers because of large amounts of depleted uranium being handled in PRIDE facility. Even if direct radiation from depleted uranium is very low and will not expose a worker to significant amounts of external radiation. Materials and Methods: ORIGEN-ARP code was used for calculating the neutron and gamma source term being generated from depleted uranium (DU), and the MCNP5 code was used for calculating the neutron and gamma fluxes and dose rates. Results and Discussion: The neutron and gamma fluxes and dose rates due to DU on spherical surface of 30 cm radius were calculated with the variation of DU mass and density. In this calculation, an imaginary case in which DU density is zero was added to check the self-shielding effect of DU. In this case, the DU sphere was modeled as a point. In case of DU mixed with molten salt of 50-250 g, the neutron and gamma fluxes were calculated respectively. It was found that the molten salt contents in DU had little effect on the neutron and the gamma fluxes. The neutron and the gamma fluxes, under the respective conditions of 1 and 5 kg mass of DU, and 5 and $19.1g{\cdot}cm^{-3}$ density of DU, were calculated with the molten salt (LiCl+KCl) of 50 g fixed, and compared with the source term. As the results, similar tendency was found in neutron and gamma fluxes with the variation of DU mass and density when compared with source spectra, except their magnitudes. Conclusion: In the case of the DU mass over 5 kg, the dose rate was shown to be higher than the environmental dose rate. From these results, it is concluded that if a worker would do an experiment with DU having over 5 kg of mass, the worker should be careful in order not to be exposed to the radiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
• /
• 2017.10a
• /
• pp.74-74
• /
• 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. Uranium deposit recovered from the solid cathode is a dendritic powder. It is necessary to separate the adhered salt from the deposits prior to the consolidation of uranium deposit. The adhered salt is composed of lithium, potassium, uranium, and rare earth chlorides. Distillation process was employed for the cathode processing. One of the operation methods is distillation of the salt at low temperature ($900^{\circ}C$), and then melting of the deposit at high temperature to avoid a backward reaction. For the development of the salt distiller, the distillation behavior of the low vapor pressure chlorides should be studied. Rare earth chlorides in the adhered salt of uranium deposits have relatively low vapor pressures compared to the process salt (LiCl-KCl). In this study, the evaporation rates of the lanthanum and neodymium chlorides were measured for the salt separation from electrorefiner uranium deposits in the temperature range of $825{\sim}910^{\circ}C$. The evaporation rate of both chlorides increased with an increasing templerature. The evaporation rate of lanthanum chloride varied from 0.12 to $1.68g/cm^2/h$. Neodymium chloride was more volatile than lanthanum chloride. The evaporation rate of neodymium chloride varied from 0.20 to $4.55g/cm^2/h$. The evaporation rate of both chlorides are more than $1g/cm^2/h$ at $900^{\circ}C$. Even though the evaporation rates of both chlorides were less than that of the process salt, the contents of the lanthanide chlorides were small in the adhered salt. Therefore it can be concluded that $900^{\circ}C$ is suitable for the operation temperature of the salt distiller.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.12
• /
• pp.4431-4440
• /
• 2022

An advanced nuclear reactor based on molten salts including a molten salt reactor and pyroprocessing needs a sensitive monitoring system suitable for operation in harsh environments with limited access. Multi-element detection is challenging with the conventional technologies that are compatible with the in-situ operation; hence laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been investigated as a potential alternative. However, limited precision is a chronic problem with LIBS. We increased the precision of LIBS under high temperature by protecting optics using a gas protective layer and correcting for shotto-shot variance and lens-to-sample distance using a laser-induced acoustic signal. This study investigates cerium as a surrogate for uranium and corrosion products for simulating corrosive environments in LiCl-KCl. While the un-corrected limit of detection (LOD) range is 425-513 ppm, the acoustic-corrected LOD range is 360-397 ppm. The typical cerium concentrations in pyroprocessing are about two orders of magnitude higher than the LOD found in this study. A LIBS monitoring system that adopts these methods could have a significant impact on the ability to monitor and provide early detection of the transient behavior of salt composition in advanced molten salt-based nuclear reactors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.43 no.8
• /
• pp.1248-1256
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanisms of behind $SO_2$ formation and elevated cause of reducing power in purple bamboo salt (PBS) along with an analysis of physicochemical properties, content of sulfur compounds, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), mineral contents of salt type (MSS, mudflat solar salt; BS, bamboo salt), and addition of raw bamboo (RB). $SO_2$ content of 630 ppm was detected in PBS. $SO_2$ was not detected in MSS, BS, or RB, whereas $SO_2$ (782 ppm) from $K_2SO_4$ was detected after heating a NaCl, KCl, $MgCl_2$, $MgSO_4$, MgO, $CaCl_2$, $K_2SO_4$, and $FeSO_4$ with RB. $SO_2$ content of BS increased with baking time, and it originated from BSRB1 (13.88 ppm) to BSRB4 (109.13 ppm). $SO_3{^{2-}}$ originated only from MSSRB4 and BSRB2~BSRB4. Sulfate ion content decreased along with increasing $SO_2$ and sulfite ion contents. ORP increased with baking time of MSS and BS, and it was present at higher levels in BSRB4 (-211.40 mV) of BS than MSS. Insoluble content was higher in BS than MSS. Further, Ca, K, and Mg ion contents decreased in MSS and increased in BS with baking time. BSRB4 had 1.4 fold higher levels of Ca, 1.5 fold higher levels of Mg, and 1.8 fold higher levels of K than BS. Li, Al, Mn, Fe, and Sr in MSS as well as Al, Fe, and Ni in BS increased with baking time. Anions (Cl, $NO_3$, and Br) and heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Hg, and As) between MSS and BS were not significantly different. These results suggest that the reducing power of BS was due to $SO_2$ and sulfite ion. To increase the amounts of these compounds and reducing power, higher melting temperature and longer baking time are necessary along with BS, which is created by the addition of RB to roasted salt.