Pyrochemical reduction of uranium dioxide and plutonium dioxide by lithium metal

CO2 gas decomposition to carbon by electro-reduction in molten salts

“…(8)- (10) or Eq. (11)- (12). This means that the ZrO 2 solid electrolyte worked as oxygen ionic conductor (as shown in Eq.…”

“…This CO 3 2-decomposes to carbon and O 2-by the electrolysis as given in Eq. (12). O 2-is extracted from the anode.…”

“…When the molten LiCl-Li 2 O is used as solvent, the operating electrolysis temperature can decrease by about 250K compared to the temperature range (923-1173K) where the molten CaCl 2 -CaO is effective. The latter salt has the wide solubility of Ca and CaO, while LiCl can dissolve Li 2 O up to 4.2mol% at 923K [12], and metallic Li has enough ability to decompose CO 2 gas to carbon and oxygen gas thermodynamically.…”

“…11) and the electrochemical decomposition of carbonate ions occurs on the cathodic electrode as shown in Eq. (12). CO 2 (g) + O 2-= CO 3 2-(11) CO 3 2-+ 4e -= C (s) + 3O 2-(12) The electrochemical analysis was often conducted with TEM analysis.…”

Direct electrochemical reduction of solid uranium oxide in molten fluoride salts

“…For instance, Usami et al [5] successfully applied this technique to AmO 2 in LiCl-Li 2 O at 650°C and have shown that more than 99.9% of Am was recovered into a solid Am phase. This technology was also employed for UO 2 and PuO 2 with 3% of Am at 650°C [6] leaving particles of UO 2 totally reduced. For Pu samples, small amounts of Pu and Am were detected in the salts.…”