Sung-Bin Park

The evaporation characteristics of LiCl–KCl eutectic salt from uranium deposits using batch type vacuum distiller with temperature slope of each zones

Recovered salt can be reused in the electrorefining process and the final removed salt from uranium (U) deposits can be fed into a following U casting process to prepare ingot. Therefore, salt distillation process is very important to increase the throughput of the salt separation system due to the high U content of spent nuclear fuel and high salt fraction of U dendrites. Yields on salt recovered by a batch type vacuum distiller transfer device were processed for obtaining pure eutectic salt and U. In this study, the influence of the various temperature slopes of each zones on salt evaporation and recovery rate are discussed. From the experimental results, the optimal temperature of each zones appear at the Top Zone and Zone 1 is 850xa0°C, Zone 2 is 650xa0°C and Zone 3 is 600xa0°C, respectively. In these conditions, the complete evaporation of pure salt in 1.4xa0h occurred and the amount of recovered salt was about 99xa0wt%. The adhered salt in U deposits was separated by a temperature slope zone of salt distillation equipment. From the experimental results using U deposits, the amount of salt evaporation was achieved more than 99xa0wt% and the salt evaporation rate was about 1.16xa0g/min. Also, the mount of recovered salt was about 99.5xa0wt%.

Numerical analysis and experimental validation of planar electrorefiner for spent nuclear fuel treatment using a tertiary model

ABSTRACT To improve the uranium recovery rate in pyroprocessing, it is crucial to develop a planar-type electrorefiner. This can be achieved prior to actual experiments by using computer simulations to analyze the shape, arrangement, and size of the cathode. In this paper, tertiary-model-based computational analysis was performed on a planar-type electrorefiner. Flat-plate and rod-type cathodes were analyzed under constant-current condition; calculations were performed on high-efficiency-type electrodes with convection effects under the same conditions by comparing the dependence of the generated overpotential on the applied current. Analytic and experimental results were analyzed by comparing the electric potential of the plate-type device with that of a uranium electrorefiner while varying the arrangement of the electrodes.

Numerical Analysis of Electrorefiner for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Measuring the Composition of Molten Salt by using the LIBS

It is important to understand electrochemical phenomena for designing a electrorefiner for pyroprocessing. In order to fulfill this need, computational approach on the electrochemical cell is one of the effective tools for visualization of the processing parameters such as potential distribution, current density distribution and concentration profile. However, the experimental validation of the calculation result is limited especially in high temperature molten salt environment. LIBS is being investigated as a possible real-time analytical tool for monitoring the electrorefining process. The use of fiber optic LIBS for in-situ and on-line compositional analysis of the molten salt is not yet a practical proposition and even laboratory studies are rare. Also it requires no special sample preparation, any type of material may be analyzed in situ and it is capable of detecting and analyzing several elements at the same time. Hence, in this study, LIBS technique was used for measuring the composition of molten salt(K2ZrF6).