Abstract
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 850 °C, Zone 2 is 650 °C and Zone 3 is 600 °C, respectively. In these conditions, the complete evaporation of pure salt in 1.4 h occurred and the amount of recovered salt was about 99 wt%. 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 99 wt% and the salt evaporation rate was about 1.16 g/min. Also, the mount of recovered salt was about 99.5 wt%.
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig1_HTML.gif)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig2_HTML.jpg)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig3_HTML.jpg)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig4_HTML.gif)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig5_HTML.jpg)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig6_HTML.jpg)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig7_HTML.jpg)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig8_HTML.gif)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig9_HTML.gif)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig10_HTML.jpg)
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10967-012-1766-2/MediaObjects/10967_2012_1766_Fig11_HTML.jpg)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kim J-G, Kim K-R, Kim I-T, Ahn D-H and Lee H-S (2009) Thermal Release of LiCl waste salt from pyroprocessing. J Korean Radioact Waste Soc 7(2):73–78
Shirai O, Lizuka M, Iwai T, Arai Y (2001) Elecrode reaction of Pu3+/Pu couple in LiCl-KCl eutectic melts: comparison of the electrode reaction at the surface of liquid Bi with that at a solid Mo electrode. Anal Sci 17:51–57
Park S-B, Cho D-W, Oh G-H, Lee J-H, Hwang S-C, Kang Y-H, Lee H-S, Kim E-H, Park S-W (2010) Salt evaporation behaviors of uranium deposits from an electrorefiner. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 283:171–176
Wetpha BR, Laug DV (1996) Initial cathode processing experiments and results for the treatment of spent fuel. Argonne national laboratory-west technical report, ANL/TD/CP-89650
Thiebaut C, Bourges G, Lambertin D, Pescayre L (2005) Plutonium pyrochemistry spent salts treatment by oxidation and distillation. In: TMS Annual Meeting, pp 1021–1025
Westphal BR, Vaden D, Hua TQ, Wilit JL, Laug DV. (2002) Recent development at the cathode processor for spent fuel treatment. In: American Nuclear Society fifth topical meeting, Charleston, South Carolina, 17–20 Sep 2002
Kato T, Iizuka M, Inoue T, Iwai T, Arai Y (2005) J Nucl Mater 340:259
Dushman S (1962) Scientific foundations of vacuum technique, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
Yang HC, Seo YC, Kim JH, Park HH, Kang Y (1994) Vaporization characteristics of heavy metal compounds at elevated temperatures. Korean J Chem Eng 11(4):232–238
Hertz HI (1882) Ueber die Verdunstung der Flüssigkeiten, insbesondere des Quecksilbers im Iuftleeren Raume; II. Ueber den Druck des gesättigten quecksilberdampfes. Ann Phys Chem 17:177–200
L’vov BV (2001) A physical approach to the interpretation of the mechanisms and kinetics of analyte release in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Spectrochim Acta Part B 56:1503–1521
Wang LL, Wallace TC Sr, Hampel FG, Steele JH (1996) Vacuum evaporation of KCl-NaCl salts: part II. vaporization-rate model and experimental results. Metall Mater Trans B 27:433–443
Acknowledgment
This study was performed under the Nuclear Research & Development Program of the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Park, KM., Kwon, SW., Park, SB. et al. The evaporation characteristics of LiCl–KCl eutectic salt from uranium deposits using batch type vacuum distiller with temperature slope of each zones. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 293, 857–862 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-1766-2
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-1766-2