• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 2017

The pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel generates LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt containing radioactive rare earth nuclides. It is necessary to develop a simple process for the treatment of LiCl-KCl eutectic waste in a hot-cell facility. In this study, capture and solidification of a rare earth nuclide (Nd) in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt using an inorganic composite with a $Li_2O-Al_2O_3-SiO_2-B_2O_3$ system was conducted to simplify the existing separation and solidification process of rare earth nuclides in LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt from the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. More than 98wt% of Nd in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt was captured when the mass ratio of the composite was 0.67 over $NdCl_3$ in the eutectic salt. The content of $Nd_2O_3$ in the Nd captured-composite reached about 50wt%, and this composite was directly fabricated into a homogeneous and chemical resistant glass waste in a monolithic form. These results will be utilized in designing a process to simplify the existing separation and solidification process.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.154-158
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• 2023

This study aimed to improve the moisture resistance of salt cores by investigating the suitability of a two-dimensional kaolinite colloidal solution and a commercially available SiO₂ ink solution as coating agents. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) results showed that the intercalation of urea into kaolinite did not significantly change its layer structure. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images revealed that the dip-coating only affected the surface of the salt core, and the texture of the surface is differ depending on the coating solution. The humidity absorption test results showed that both coatings reduced the hygroscopicity of the salt core by more than 50%. However, in the water-solubility test, the kaolinite dissolved with the salt core, whereas the SiO₂-coated salt core left a residue. These results strongly suggest that with the coating of the exfoliated kaolinite solution, salt core will remain stable in humid environments.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2017

Densities of molten salt mixtures of eutectic LiCl-KCl with $UCl_3$, $CeCl_3$, or $LaCl_3$ at various concentrations (up to 13 wt%) were measured using a liquid surface displacement probe. Linear relationships between the mixture density and the concentration of the added salt were observed. For $LaCl_3$ and $CeCl_3$, the measured densities were significantly higher than those previously reported from Archimedes' method. In the case of $LiCl-KCl-UCl_3$, the data fit the ideal mixture density model very well. For the other salts, the measured densities exceeded the ideal model prediction by about 2%.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.13 no.spc2
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• pp.198-201
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• 2012

The electrolytes in thermal batteries are nonconductive solids at ambient temperature, which prevent the self-discharge and corrosion. To meet severe environmental requirements and guarantee acceptable handling yields, all the pellets in cells should have adequate strength, especially for the cathodes due to their poor binding properties among FeS2 particles. By modifying the surface microstructure of FeS2 through molten-salt heat treatment, the inter-particle binding strength is greatly increased, resulting in the enhanced pellet strength and yield. The addition of Li2O also promoted the soft salt coating coverage of hard FeS2 particles, which can be explained by the enhanced wettability of the molten salt.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2023

The accumulation of spent carbide (YG8), not only pollutes the environment but also causes waste of tungsten, cobalt and other rare metal resources. To better address this issue, we proposed a combined electrochemical separation process of low-temperature aqueous solution and high-temperature molten salt for tungsten and cobalt. H₂WO₄ was obtained from spent carbide in an aqueous solution, and we calcined it to obtain WO₃, which was used as a raw material to obtain tungsten by using molten salt electrodeposition. The influence of the current efficiency and the electrochemical behavior of the discharge precipitation of W(VI) were also studied. The calcination results showed that the morphology of WO₃ was regular and there were no other impurities. The maximum current efficiency of 82.91% was achieved in a series of electrodeposition experiments. According to XRD and SEM analysis, the recovered product was high purity tungsten, which belongs to the simple cubic crystal system. In the W(VI) reduction mechanism experiments, the electrochemical process of W(VI) in NaCl-Na₂WO₄-WO₃ molten salt was investigated using linear scanning voltammetry (LSV) and chronoamperometry in a three-electrode system. The LSV showed that W(VI) was reduced at the cathode in two steps and the electrode reaction was controlled by diffusion. The fitting results of chronoamperometry showed that the nucleation mechanism of W(VI) was an instantaneous nucleation mode, and the diffusion coefficient was 7.379×10^-10 cm²·s^-1.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.80-80
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• 2015

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2008

The sub-salt imaging technique becomes more crucial to detect the hydro-carbonates in petroleum exploration as the target reservoirs get deeper. However, the weak reflections from the sub-salt structures prevent us from obtaining high fidelity sub-salt image. As an effort to overcome this difficulty, we applied the waveform inversion by implementing multi-grid technique to the sub-salt imaging. Through the comparison between the conventional waveform inversion using fixed grid and the multi-grid technique, we confirmed that the waveform inversion using multi-grid technique has advantages over the conventional fixed grid waveform inversion. We showed that the multi-grid technique can complement he velocity estimation result of the waveform inversion for imaging the sub-salt structures, of which velocity model cannot be obtained correctly by the conventional fixed grid waveform inversion.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.159-163
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• 2023

Salt cores have attracted considerable attention for their application to the casting process of electric vehicle parts as a solution to ecological issues. However, the salt core still has low mechanical strength for use in high-pressure die casting. In this study, we investigated the improvements in the bending strength of KCl-based salt cores resulting from the use of reinforcing materials. KCl and Na₂CO₃ powders were used as matrix materials, and glass fiber and carbon fiber were used as reinforcing materials. The effects of carbon fiber and glass fiber contents on the bending strength properties were investigated. Here, we obtained a new fiber-reinforced salt core composition with improved bending strength for high-pressure die casting by adding a relatively small amount of glass fiber (0.3 wt%). The reinforced salt core indicates the improved properties, including a bending strength of 49.3 Mpa, linear shrinkage of 1.5%, water solubility rate of 16.25 g/min·m² in distilled water, and hygroscopic rate of 0.058%.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.922-932
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• 2024

This paper presents the design features and preliminary design analysis results of the Wielenga Innovation Static Salt Reactor (WISSR). The WISSR incorporates features that make it both flexible and inherently safe. It is based on innovative technology that controls a nuclear reactor by moving molten salt fuel into or out of the core. The reactor is a low-pressure, fast spectrum transuranic (TRU) burner reactor. Inherent shutdown is achieved by a large negative reactivity feedback of the liquid fuel and by the expansion of fuel out of the core. The core is made of concentric, thin annular fuel chambers containing molten fuel salt. A molten salt coolant passes between the concentric fuel chambers to cool the core. The core has both fixed and variable volume fuel chambers. Pressure, applied by helium gas to fuel reservoirs below the core, pushes fuel out of a reservoir and up into a set of variable volume chambers. A control system monitors the density and temperature of the fuel throughout the core. Using NaCl-(TRU,U)Cl₃ fuel and NaCl-KCl-MgCl₂ coolant, a road-transportable compact WISSR core design was developed at a power level of 1250 MWt. Preliminary neutronics and thermal-hydraulics analyses demonstrate the technical feasibility of WISSR.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.12
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• pp.3952-3965
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• 2021

In this study, volcanic ash was used as raw material to prepare waste forms with different silicon/aluminum (Si/Al) molar ratios to immobilize sodium-salt waste (SSW) containing simulated ¹³⁷Cs. Effects of Si/Al molar ratios (3:1 and 2:1) and sodium salts on sintering behavior of waste forms and immobilization mechanism of Cs⁺ were investigated. Results indicated that the main mineral phase of sintered waste-form matrixes was albite, and the formation of major phases was found to depend on Si/Al molar ratios. Si/Al molar ratio of 2 was favorable for the formation of pollucite, and the formation and crystallization of mineral phases were also decided based on physicochemical characteristics of sodium salts. Furthermore, product consistency test results indicated that the immobilization of Cs⁺ was related to Si/Al molar ratio, types of sodium salts, and glassy phase. Waste forms with Si/Al molar ratio of 2 exhibited better ability to immobilize Cs⁺, whereas the influence of sodium salts and glassy phases on the immobilization of SSW showed more complicated relationship. In waste forms with Si/Al molar ratio of 2, Cs⁺ leaching concentrations of samples containing Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂O and NaOH were low. Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂O easily transformed into liquid phase during sintering to consequently achieve low temperature liquid-phase sintering, which is beneficial to avoid the volatilization of Cs⁺ at high temperature. Results clearly reveal that waste forms with Si/Al molar ratio of 2 and containing Na₂B₄O₇·10H₂O show excellent immobilization of Cs⁺.