Recovery of minor actinides from spent molten salt waste and decontamination of molten salt waste

Recovery of minor actinides from spent molten salt is one of the important issues. Decontamination of spent molten salt waste is also the problem to be solved for establishment of pyrochemical reprocessing. The decontamination method of spent molten salt waste with recovery of minor actinides has been proposed. Our proposed process is based on the hydrometallurgical process. This process consists of the following processes. First, the spent molten salt waste is dissolved in aqueous solution. Next, the minor actinides are recovered by chromatographic techniques using the pyridine resin in the methanolic hydrochloric acid solution. In the last process, the spent molten salt waste is decontaminated by the cation-exchange chromatography. In the present paper, the adsorption behavior of minor actinides, rare earth elements, alkaline earth elements, and alkali metal elements on pyridine resin is reported. The demonstration experiment of the recovery of the minor actinides from simulant spent molten salt waste is also reported.

► The decontamination method of spent molten salt waste was proposed.
► Our proposed process is based on the hydrometallurgical process.
► The recovery of minor actinides is included in the proposed process.