Investigation of electrorefining of metallic alloy fuel onto solid Al cathodes

Laurent Cassayre (1) , Rikard Malmbeck (1) , Patrick Masset (1) , Jean Rebizant (1) , Jérôme Serp (1) , Pavel Soucek (1) , Jean-Paul Glatz (1)

1 JRC - European Commission - Joint Research Centre [Karlsruhe]

This work concerned the electrorefining of UZr and UPuZr alloys on a solid aluminium cathode, in the LiCl-KCl eutectic melt containing U3+, Pu3+, Np3+, Zr2+ or Zr 4+, Am3+, Nd3+, Y3+, Ce3+ and Gd3+ chlorides. During constant current electrolyses, the use of a cathodic cut-off potential (-1.25 V vs. Ag/AgCl) allowed to selectively deposit actinides (mainly U), while lanthanides remainedin the salt. The aim was to determine the maximal load achievable on a single aluminium electrode. The total exchange charge was 4300 C, which represents the deposition of 3.72 g of actinides in 4.17 g Al, yielding a composition of 44.6 wt% An in Al. It was shown that the melting of the cathode contributed to increase the total amount of actinides deposited on the aluminium.

Mots clés: Solid Al cathode

Domaines: Génie chimique

Laurent Cassayre, Rikard Malmbeck, Patrick Masset, Jean Rebizant, Jérôme Serp, et al.. Investigation of electrorefining of metallic alloy fuel onto solid Al cathodes. Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2007, 360 (1), pp.49-57. ⟨10.1016/j.jnucmat.2006.08.013⟩. ⟨hal-03594317⟩