Fuel salt transport processing

Salt Transport Processing (8, 9, 10, 11) The selective transfer of spent fuel constitutents between liquid metals and/or molten salts is being studied for both thorium-uranium and uranium-plutonium oxide and metal fuels. The chemical basis for the separation is the selective partitioning of actinide and fission-product elements between molten salt and liquid alloy phases as determined by the values of the standard free energy of formation of the chlorides of actinide elements and the fission products. Elements to be partitioned are dissolved in one alloy (the donor... 

Steunenberg, R. K. Pierce, R. D. Johnson, I., "Status of the Salt Transport Process for Fast Breeder Reactor Fuels," in "Symposium on Reprocessing of Nuclear Fuels, The Metallurgical Society of AIME, Ames, IA, August 1969," Nucl. Metallurgy,... 

The present work at Rocky Flats is an extension of the Argonne work and is directed to development of a proliferation resistant pyrochemical process for LMFBR fuels. This article describes a conceptual pyrochemical process and preliminary engineering concepts for coprocessing uranium and plutonium in spent LMFBR core-axial blanket and radial blanket fuels using the Salt Transport Process. 

Figure 2. Conceptual salt transport process for U02-Pu02 fuel...

The pyrochemical coprocessing of spent nuclear fuel by the Salt Transport Process appears to be a potentially viable reprocessing method, not only as an "exportable proliferation resistant technology," but as a domestic reprocessing operation. All operations are nonaqueous and waste generation is in solid form, thus requiring no conversion from aqueous solutions to solids. 

The term electromembrane process is used to describe an entire family of processes that can be quite different in their basic concept and their application. However, they are all based on the same principle, which is the coupling of mass transport with an electrical current through an ion permselective membrane. Electromembrane processes can conveniently be divided into three types (1) Electromembrane separation processes that are used to remove ionic components such as salts or acids and bases from electrolyte solutions due to an externally applied electrical potential gradient. (2) Electromembrane synthesis processes that are used to produce certain compounds such as NaOH, and Cl2 from NaCL due to an externally applied electrical potential and an electrochemical electrode reaction. (3) Eletectromembrane energy conversion processes that are to convert chemical into electrical energy, as in the H2/02 fuel cell. 

Two stationary states in the coupled processes can be identified as the level flow where A = 0, and the static head where J, = 0. Examples of the static head are open-circuited fuel cells and active transport in a cell membrane, while examples of the level flow are short-circuited fuel cells and salt and water transport in kidneys. 

---