Journal
JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS
Volume 494, Issue -, Pages 439-447Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.07.036
Keywords
Pyroprocessing; Electrolytic reduction; Li2O-LiCl salt; High density UO2
Funding
- National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) of the Korean Government (MISP) [2017M2A8A5015077]
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The large size and high density of spent fuel pellets make it difficult to use the pellets directly in electrolytic reduction (also called as oxide reduction, OR) for pyroprocessing owing to the slow diffusion of molten Li2O-LiCl salt electrolyte into the pellets. In this study, we investigated complete OR of high-density UO2 to metallic U without any remaining UO2. Only partial reductions near the surface of high-density UO2 pellets were observed under operation conditions employing fast electrolysis rate that allowed previously complete reduction of low-density UO2 pellets. Complete reduction of high-density UO2 pellets was observed at fast electrolysis rate when the pellet size was reduced. The complete reduction of high-density UO2 pellets without size reduction was achieved at slow electrolysis rate, which allowed sufficient chemical reduction of UO2 with the lithium metal generated by the cathode reaction. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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