• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제42권2호
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• pp.183-192
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• 2010

An electrochemical reduction of a mixture of metal oxides was conducted in a LiCl molten salt containing 3 wt% $Li_2O$ at $650^{\circ}C$. The oxide reduction was carried out by applying a current to an electrolysis cell, and the $Li_2O$ concentration was analyzed during each run. The concentration of $Li_2O$ in the electrolyte bulk phase gradually decreases according to Faraday's law due to a slow diffusion of the $O^{2-}$ ions. A hindrance effect of the unreduced metal oxides was observed for the reduction of the uranium oxide. Cs, Sr, and Ba of high heat-load fission products were diffused into and accumulated in the salt phase as predicted with thermodynamic consideration.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.176-183
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• 2020

The high-temperature stability of YSZ specimens fabricated by die pressure and cold isostatic press (CIP) is investigated in CaCl₂-CaF₂-CaO molten salt at 1,150 ℃. The experimental results are as follows: green density 46.7 % and 50.9 %; sintering density 93.3 % and 99.3 % for die press and CIP, respectively. YSZ foremd by CIP exhibits higher stability than YSZ formed by die press due to denseness dependency after high-temperature stability test. YSZ shows peaks mainly attributed to CaZrO₃, with a small t-ZrO₂ peak, unlike the high-intensity tetragonal-ZrO₂ (t-ZrO₂) peak observed for the asreceived specimen. The t-ZrO₂ phase of YSZ is likely stabilized by Y₂O₃, and the leaching of Y₂O₃ results in phase transformation from t-ZrO₂ to m-ZrO₂. CaZrO₃ likely forms from the reaction between CaO and m-ZrO₂. As the exposure time increases, more CaZrO₃ is observed in the internal region of YSZ, which could be attributed to the inward diffusion of molten salt and outward diffusion of the stabilizer (Y₂O₃) through the pores. This results in greater susceptibility to phase transformation and CaZrO₃ formation. To use SOM anodes for the electroreduction of various metals, YSZ stability must be improved by adjusting the high-density in the forming process.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.229-236
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• 2012

$Li_2O$-LiCl 용융염을 이용한 전해환원기술은 사용후핵연료로부터 우라늄 금속을 회수하기 위해 연구되고 있다. 이 전해환원기술에서는 $Li_2O$가 촉매로 이용되기 때문에 그 농도를 유지하는 것은 매우 중요한 운전인자이다. $ZrO_2$는 피복관의 주성분이 Zr이기 때문에 사용후핵연료에 불가피하게 함유되며, 본 연구에서는 $Li_2O$를 촉매로 이용하는 전해환원공정에서 $ZrO_2$의 거동을 살펴보았다. $Li_2O$와 $ZrO_2$의 화학반응과 전해환원공정 중에서의 생성물을 분석한 결과, $Li_2ZrO_3$와 $Li_4ZrO_4$가 주요하게 관찰되었고, 이는 $Li_2O$의 손실을 가져오는 원인이 된다. 즉, $ZrO_2$는 $Li_2O$를 소모하는 역할을 하며, 반응생성물은 전기화학적으로 안정하기 때문에 $Li_2O$의 손실이 불가피하게 된다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권5호
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• pp.1560-1569
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• 2022

Liquid fueled molten salt reactors (MSRs) have seen renewed interest because of their inherent safety features, higher thermal efficiency and potential for efficient thorium utilisation for power generation. Thorium fluoride is one of the salts used in liquid fueled MSRs employing Th-U cycle. In the present study, ThF₄ was prepared by hydro-fluorination of ThO₂ using anhydrous HF gas. Process parameters viz. bed depth, hydrofluorination time and hydrofluorination temperature, were optimized for the preparation of ThF₄ in a static bed reactor setup. The products were characterized with X-Ray diffraction and experimental conditions for complete conversion to ThF₄ were established which also corroborated with the yield values. Hydrofluorination of ThO₂ at 450 ℃ for half an hour at a bed depth of 6 mm gave the best result, with a yield of about 99.36% ThF₄. No unconverted oxide or any other impurity was observed. Rietveld refinement was performed on the XRD data of this ThF₄, and Chi2 value of 3.54 indicated good agreement between observed and calculated profiles.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제3권2호
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• pp.85-93
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• 2005

Isotopes of alkali and alkaline earth metals (AM and AEM) are the main contributors to the heat load and the radiotoxicity of spent fuel (SF) . These components are separated from the SF and dissolved in a molten LiCl in an electrolytic reduction process. A mass transfer model is developed to describe the diffusion behavior of Cs, Sr, and Ba in the SF into the molten salt. The model is an analytical solution of Fick's second law of diffusion for a cylinder which is the shape of a cathode in the electrolytic reduction process. And the model is also applied to depict the concentration profile of the oxygen ion which is produced by the electrolysis of Li$_{2}$O. The regressed diffusion coefficients of the model correlating the experimentally measured data are evaluated to be greater in the order of Ba, Cs, and Sr for the metal ions and the diffusion of the oxygen ion is slower than the metal ions which implies that different mechanisms govern the diffusion of the metal ions and the oxygen ions in a molten LiCl.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제12권3호
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• pp.179-189
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• 2014

파이로 공정은 사용후핵연료 관리 이슈 해결과 유용자원 재활용 제고의 목적으로 개발되고 있다. 파이로 공정 중 전해환원 공정은 LiCl을 전해질로 사용하여 산화물을 금속으로 전환시키는 공정으로 금속 전환체에 잔류염이 포함되므로 후속 공정이 요구된다. 진공 증류 공정은 다양한 용융염계에서 적용되어 왔으며 금속 전환체에서도 활용될 수 있다. 전해환원 금속 전환체 잔류염은 LiCl과 알카리 및 알카리토 금속 염화물을 포함한다. 본 연구에서는 이들 염화물들의 증기압을 추산하여 진공 증류 공정에서 잔류 액체의 조성변화를 계산하였다. 증류된 기체가 일정하게 제거되는 조건에서 물질수지와 기-액 평형식을 결합한 모델을 개발하였으며 증기압을 이용하여 무차원 시간에 대한 액체 조성 변화를 계산하였다. 공정 조건 변화 모사를 위해 온도와 용융염 조성을 변화시켜 거동을 비교하였다. 잔류염의 증류는 주성분인 LiCl에 의해 지배되었으며 LiCl 보다 증기압이 높은 CsCl은 쉽게 제거될 것이 예상되었다. 증기압이 유사한 RbCl은 LiCl과 일정한 조성이 유지되었다. 반면 증기압이 낮은 $SrCl_2$와 $BaCl_2$는 시간에 따라 농축되며 초기 조성이 높은 경우 증류 과정에서 석출될 가능성이 있는 것으로 예상되었다.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제23권6호
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• pp.573-580
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• 2012

Corrosion resistance and basic physical properties of solid tantalum are not comparable to most of the structural metallic materials. The relative high cost and melting temperature of tantalum are obstacles to be widely applied to general engineering processes. Electrodeposition in molten salt enables compact and uniform tantalum coating. In this study, Ta was coated onto base metal (SUS316L) with different current densities (0.5, 5, $20mA/cm^2$) by using MSE (Molten Salt Electrodeposition). In this study, it showed that deposition efficiency and microstructure of Ta coating layer were strongly depended on current density. In the case of the current density of $5mA/cm^2$, densest microstructure was obtained. The current density above $5mA/cm^2$ caused non-uniform microstructure due to rapid deposition rate. Dense microstructure and intact coating layer contributed to significant corrosion resistance enhancement.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.378-383
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• 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.1091-1099
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• 2024

Fluoride-salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor (FHR) is a promising nuclear reactor technology. Among many challenges presented by the molten fluoride salts is the corrosion of salt-facing structural components. Higher moisture contents, in the FLiNaK (LiF-NaF-KF, 46.5-11.5-42 mol%) salt, aggravate intergranular corrosion and pitting for the given alloys. Therefore, several thermal dehydration tests of FLiNaK salt were performed with a batch size suitable for thermal-hydraulic experiments. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) was performed for the three constituent fluoride salts individually. Preliminary thermal dehydration plans were then proposed for NaF and KF salts based on the TGA curves. However, the dehydration process may not be required for LiF since its low mass loss (<1.3 wt%). To evaluate the performance of these thermal dehydration plans, a batch-scale salt dehydration test facility was designed and constructed. The preliminary thermal dehydration plans were tested by varying the heating rates, target temperature, and holding time. The sample mass loss data showed that the high temperatures (>500 ℃) were necessary to remove a significant amount of moisture (>1 wt%) from NaF salt, while relatively low temperatures (around 300 ℃) with a long holding time (>10 h) were sufficient to remove most of the moisture from KF salt.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.103-114
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• 2001

Worldwide trend of waste treatment technology is rapidly transferring from "incineration system" to "gasification & melting system" which can derive the resources from waste and charge no more environmental burden to nature. And therefore it is necessary for our country to adopt gasification & melting system urgently to present the land pollution and lack of landfill area. Among several gasification and melting processes Daewoo-Thermoselect gasification and melting system is the representative process which can transfer waste to resources such as sin-gas, molten slag, metal hydroxide, mixed salt and sulfur through the process of compaction, degasification, gasification and melting.