STATUS OF PYROPROCESSING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT IN KOREA

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing pyroprocessing technology for recycling useful resources from spent fuel since 1997. The process includes pretreatment, electroreduction, electrorefining, electrowinning, and a waste salt treatment system. This paper briefly addresses unit processes and related innovative technologies. As for the electroreduction step, a stainless steel mesh basket was applied for adaption of granules of uranium oxide. This basket was designed for ready handling and transfer of feed material. A graphite cathode was used for the continuous collection of uranium dendrite in the electrorefining system. This enhances the throughput of the electrorefiner. A particular mesh type stirrer was designed to inhibit uranium spill-over at the liquid Cd crucible. A residual actinide recovery system was also tested to recover TRU tracer. In order to reduce the waste volume, a crystallization method is employed for Cs and Sr removal. Experiments on the unit processes were tested successfully, and based on the results, engineering-scale equipment has been designed for the PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration facility).

[1]  R. W. Benedict,et al.  Strategic Minimization of High Level Waste From Pyroprocessing of Spent Nuclear Fuel , 2007 .

[2]  Eung-Ho Kim,et al.  Application of Graphite as a Cathode Material for Electrorefining of Uranium , 2008 .

[3]  K. M. Goff,et al.  Actinide Recovery Experiments with Bench-Scale Liquid Cadmium Cathode in Real Fission Product-Laden Molten Salt , 2009 .

[4]  Yasuo Arai,et al.  Electrochemical behaviors of uranium and plutonium at simultaneous recoveries into liquid cadmium cathodes , 2004 .

[5]  Han-Soo Lee,et al.  Distillation and condensation of LiCl–KCl eutectic salts for a separation of pure salts from salt wastes from an electrorefining process , 2009 .

[6]  Jin-Mok Hur,et al.  Preparation and Melting of Uranium from U3O8. , 2008 .

[7]  Eric J. Karell,et al.  Separation of Actinides from LWR Spent Fuel Using Molten-Salt-Based Electrochemical Processes , 2001 .

[8]  Han-Soo Lee,et al.  Stabilization/solidification of radioactive salt waste by using xSiO2-yAl2O3-zP2O5 (SAP) material at molten salt state. , 2008, Environmental science & technology.

[9]  Han-Soo Lee,et al.  Assessment of a High-Throughput Electrorefining Concept for a Spent Metallic Nuclear Fuel—II: Electrohydrodynamic Analysis and Validation , 2009 .

[10]  Jin-Mok Hur,et al.  Preparation and melting of uranium from U3O8 , 2008 .

[11]  Tadafumi Koyama,et al.  Electrodeposition of uranium in stirred liquid cadmium cathode , 1997 .

[12]  Yung-Zun Cho,et al.  A New Approach to Minimize Pyroprocessing Waste Salts Through a Series of Fission Product Removal Process , 2008 .

[13]  Tadashi Inoue,et al.  Separation of Uranium and Transuranic Elements from Rare Earth Elements by Means of Multistage Extraction in LiCl-KCl/Bi System , 1999 .

[14]  Tadafumi Koyama,et al.  An experimental study of molten salt electrorefining of uranium using solid iron cathode and liquid cadmium cathode for development of pyrometallurgical reprocessing , 1997 .

[15]  Eung-Ho Kim,et al.  Separation of Pure LiCl-KCl Eutectic Salt from a Mixture of LiCl-KCl Eutectic Salt and Rare-Earth Precipitates by Vacuum Distillation , 2007 .

[16]  Tadashi Inoue,et al.  Measurement of standard potentials of actinides (U,Np,Pu,Am) in LiCl–KCl eutectic salt and separation of actinides from rare earths by electrorefining , 1998 .

[17]  Eung-Ho Kim,et al.  Alternative Technology for the Treatment of Waste LiCl Salt by Using Gelation with a Si-P-Al Material System and a Subsequent Thermal Conditioning Method , 2008 .

[18]  Yasuo Arai,et al.  Electrochemical behavior of actinides and actinide nitrides in LiCl–KCl eutectic melts , 2006 .

[19]  S. H. Kim,et al.  Thermodynamic and experimental approaches for an effective recovery of actinides from a spent LiCl-KCl salt , 2008 .

[20]  Han-Soo Lee,et al.  Treatment of a waste salt delivered from an electrorefining process by an oxidative precipitation of the rare earth elements , 2009 .

[21]  Tadashi Inoue,et al.  Electrochemical Reduction of UO2 in Molten CaCl2 or LiCl , 2006 .

[22]  Young Seok Bang,et al.  A PARTICLE TRACKING MODEL TO PREDICT THE DEBRIS TRANSPORT ON THE CONTAINMENT FLOOR , 2010 .

[23]  J. H. Lee,et al.  Assessment of a High-Throughput Electrorefining Concept for a Spent Metallic Nuclear Fuel—I: Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis , 2008 .

[24]  Michael F. Simpson,et al.  Electrolytic Reduction of Spent Oxide Fuel - Bench-Scale Test Results , 2005 .