Recent Progress in Waste Treatment Technology for Pyroprocessing at KAERI

Park, Geun-Il; Jeon, Min Ku; Choi, Jonghyun; Lee, Ki-Rak; Han, Sehee; Kim, In Tae; Cho, Yung-Zun; Park, Hwan-Seo

doi:10.7733/jnfcwt.2019.17.3.279

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…us, the transportation of CsI to the LiCl molten salt electrolyte will require a large gas treatment system, which becomes an additional process burden on the whole EOR process. Meanwhile, the CsI treatment technique has been well established as a head-end process, from volatilization to the immobilization, as the pre-EOR process of pyroprocessing [1,12,13]. Subsequently, it is considered that the removal of CsI from SNFs before EOR processing is a better strategy in terms of the integrated process efficiency of the EOR process and also the whole pyroprocessing.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electrochemical Behavior of CsI in LiCl Molten Salt

Kim¹,

Lee²,

Jeon³

et al. 2020

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations

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The electrochemical behavior of CsI in LiCl molten salt was investigated to identify its impact on the electrolytic oxide reduction of oxide-phase spent nuclear fuels by combined electrolysis and cyclic voltammetry experiments of LiCl-CsI in comparison with LiCl, LiCl-CsCl, and LiCl-LiI. It was found that Cs+ ions were hardly involved in the cathode reaction, and reduction of Li+ ions occurred dominantly in the cathode. In contrast, incorporation of I− ions induced low-potential anode reaction compared with the I− ion-free cases. Such additional electrochemical reaction resulted in the generation of I2 and/or ICl gases, which would increase a process burden for treating 129I with exceptionally long lifetime. In this respect, separating CsI from spent nuclear fuel before the electrolytic oxide reduction is recommended for the purpose of efficient waste management.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compounds of Cs, including CsI, in SNFs are expected to be removed by high-temperature heat treatment to form volatile phases [12,13]. us, performing heat treatment is considered to be beneficial for the EOR process [1,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrochemical Behavior of CsI in LiCl Molten Salt

Kim¹,

Lee²,

Jeon³

et al. 2020

Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations

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“…Its application is being expanded to process spent fuels from oxide fuel reactors [6]. South Korea also utilises a molten-salt-based process, with the Korea Atomic Energy Institute (KAERI) beginning development of the process in 1997 [8]. Generally, the primary stage of pyroprocessing is electrorefining, where a metallic feedstock is dissolved in LiCl-KCl eutectic (LKE; 44:56 wt%) salt, which melts at 355 • C, and the re-useable actinides (mainly U and Pu) are deposited at multiple cathodes [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, the primary stage of pyroprocessing is electrorefining, where a metallic feedstock is dissolved in LiCl-KCl eutectic (LKE; 44:56 wt%) salt, which melts at 355 • C, and the re-useable actinides (mainly U and Pu) are deposited at multiple cathodes [4]. Due to the requirement of a metallic feedstock for electrorefining, an additional stage, known as electroreduction, is required for processing of oxide fuels [8]. In electroreduction, the oxide fuels are dissolved into a LiCl molten salt, with the oxygen transported to the anode and released [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the requirement of a metallic feedstock for electrorefining, an additional stage, known as electroreduction, is required for processing of oxide fuels [8]. In electroreduction, the oxide fuels are dissolved into a LiCl molten salt, with the oxygen transported to the anode and released [8]. In both processes, highly radioactive fission products build up in the salt as the useful actinides are electrochemically extracted, leaving the fission products to accumulate, requiring further treatment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Benchtop Zone Refinement of Simulated Future Spent Nuclear Fuel Pyroprocessing Waste

Scrimshire,

Backhouse,

Deng

et al. 2024

Materials

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The UK’s adoption of pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel as an alternative to the current aqueous processing routes requires a robust scientific underpinning of all relevant processes. One key process is the clean-up of the contaminated salt from the electroreducing and electrorefining processes. A proposed method for this clean-up is zone refining, whereby the tendency of the contaminants to remain in the liquid phase during melting and freezing is exploited to ‘sweep’ the contaminants to one end of the sample. Experiments were performed, utilising off-the-shelf laboratory equipment, to demonstrate the feasibility of zone refining for clean-up of electroreducing and electrorefining wastes. This was successful for the electrorefining simulant samples, with effective segregation coefficient, keff, values, which provide a measure of the degree of separation in the sample, between 0 and 1. Lower values indicate greater separation, with values of as low as 0.542 achieved here, corresponding to a reduction in RECl3 content from 10.0 wt. % to 8.4 wt. % (for 80% salt reuse). Due to difficulties in obtaining a fully homogeneous electroreducing simulant waste, it was not possible to demonstrate the feasibility of zone refining using the current experimental setup. Further research is required to elucidate the correct preparation conditions for production of homogeneous electroreducing waste simulants.

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