Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology

In this study, we prepared Li-K-Cd alloy, which meets the requirement of eutectic ratio of Li:K, to maintain the operating temperature of the drawdown process at 500℃ and to achieve the reuse of LiCl-KCl molten salt. The prepared Li-K-Cd alloys were added to LiCl-KCl salt bearing U and Nd at 500℃ to investigate the removal of UCl3 in the salt. The reduction of UCl3 in the salt was examined by measuring the OCP value of salt and analyzing the salt composition by ICP-OES. Reduction was also visually confirmed by change of salt color from dark purple to white. The experimental results reveal that the prepared Li-K-Cd alloy has reductive extractability for UCl3 in salt. By improving the preparation method, the Li-K-Cd alloy can be applied to the drawdown process.

Keywords

Liquid metal extraction,Li-K-Cd alloy,Uranium chloride,LiCl-KCl eutectic salt