Review

  • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology
  • Volume 13(3); 2015
  • Article

Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology 2015;13(3):181-186. Published online: Sep, 30, 2015

PDF Citation

DOI : dx.doi.org/10.7733/jnfcwt.2015.13.3.181

Separation Characteristics of NdCl3 from LiCl-KCl Eutectic Salt in a Reactive Distillation Process using Li2CO3 or K2CO3

  • Hee-Chul Eun ; Jung-Hoon Choi ; Tae-Kyo Lee ; In-Hak Cho ; Na-Young Kim ; Jae-Uk Yu ; Hwan-Seo Park ; Do-Hee Ahn
Abstract

It is necessary to develop an effective waste salt treatment technology for the minimization of radioactive waste generation from the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. For this reason, the separation characteristics of NdCl3 from LiCl-KCl eutectic salt in a reactive distillation process using Li2CO3 or K2CO3 were observed. NdCl3 was converted into oxychloride (NdOCl) or oxide (Nd2O3) in the reaction model between NdCl3 and the carbonates using HSC-Chemistry, and this result was confirmed in the reactive distillation test of the LiCl-KCl-NdCl3 system using the carbonates. Based on these results, the reactive distillation process conditions were determined to separate NdCl3 into an oxide form (Nd2O3) which can be easily fabricated into a final waste form.

Keywords

Pyroprocessing,Spent nuclear fuel,LiCl-KCl eutectic salt,Reactive distillation,NdCl3