<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The nuclear fuel reprocessing is a prerequisite for nuclear energy to be a clean and sustainable energy. In the case of the molten salt reactor containing a liquid fuel, pyrometallurgical way is an obvious way. The method for treatment of the liquid fuel is divided into two parts. In-situ injection of helium gas into the fuel leads to extract the gaseous fission products and a part of the noble metals. The second part of the reprocessing is performed by ‘batch’. It aims to recover the fissile material and to separate the minor actinides from fission products. The reprocessing involves several chemical steps based on redox and acido-basic properties of the various elements contained in the fuel salt. One challenge is to perform a selective extraction of actinides and lanthanides in spent liquid fuel. Extraction of actinides and lanthanides are successively performed by a reductive extraction in liquid bismuth pool containing metallic lithium as a reductive reagent. The objective of this paper is to give a description of the several steps of the reprocessing retained for the molten salt fast reactor (MSFR) concept and to present the initial results obtained for the reductive extraction experiments realized in static conditions by contacting LiF-ThF4-UF4-NdF3 with a lab-made Bi-Li pool and for which extraction efficiencies of 0.7% for neodymium and 14.0% for uranium were measured. It was concluded that in static conditions, the extraction is governed by a kinetic limitation and not by the thermodynamic equilibrium.</abstract>

The nuclear fuel reprocessing is a prerequisite for nuclear energy to be a clean and sustainable energy. In the case of the molten salt reactor containing a liquid fuel, pyrometallurgical way is an obvious way. The method for treatment of the liquid fuel is divided into two parts. In-situ injection of helium gas into the fuel leads to extract the gaseous fission products and a part of the noble metals. The second part of the reprocessing is performed by ‘batch’. It aims to recover the fissile material and to separate the minor actinides from fission products. The reprocessing involves several chemical steps based on redox and acido-basic properties of the various elements contained in the fuel salt. One challenge is to perform a selective extraction of actinides and lanthanides in spent liquid fuel. Extraction of actinides and lanthanides are successively performed by a reductive extraction in liquid bismuth pool containing metallic lithium as a reductive reagent. The objective of this paper is to give a description of the several steps of the reprocessing retained for the molten salt fast reactor (MSFR) concept and to present the initial results obtained for the reductive extraction experiments realized in static conditions by contacting LiF-ThF4-UF4-NdF3 with a lab-made Bi-Li pool and for which extraction efficiencies of 0.7% for neodymium and 14.0% for uranium were measured. It was concluded that in static conditions, the extraction is governed by a kinetic limitation and not by the thermodynamic equilibrium.

Pyrochemical reprocessing of molten salt fast reactor fuel: focus on the reductive extraction step

Institut de Physique Nucléaire, CNRS-IN2P3, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91406 Orsay Cedex, France

Nukleonika

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The nuclear fuel reprocessing is a prerequisite for nuclear energy to be a clean and sustainable energy. In the case of the molten salt reactor containing a...

Pyrochemical reprocessing of molten salt fast reactor fuel: focus on the reductive extraction step

Publié en ligne: 30 déc. 2015

Pages: 907 - 914

Reçu: 19 juin 2015

Accepté: 16 sept. 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nuka-2015-0153

Mots clés
molten salt reactor, reductive extraction, fluoride molten salt, pyrochemistry

© by Sylvie Delpech

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Pyrochemical reprocessing of molten salt fast reactor fuel: focus on the reductive extraction step

Publié en ligne: 30 déc. 2015

Pages: 907 - 914

Reçu: 19 juin 2015

Accepté: 16 sept. 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nuka-2015-0153

Mots clésmolten salt reactor, reductive extraction, fluoride molten salt, pyrochemistry

© by Sylvie Delpech

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Mots clés
molten salt reactor, reductive extraction, fluoride molten salt, pyrochemistry