Electrolytic reduction of a simulated oxide spent fuel and the fates of representative elements in a Li2O-LiCl molten salt

A series of electrolytic reduction experiments were carried out using a simulated oxide spent fuel to investigate the reduction behavior of elements in a mixed oxide condition and the fates of elements in the reduction process with 1.0 wt% Li2O-LiCl. It was found out that 155% of the theoretical charge was enough to reduce the simulated. Te and Eu were expected to possibly exist in the precipitate and on the anode surface, whereas Ba and Sr showed apparent dissolution behaviors. Rare earths showed relatively low metal fractions from 28.2 to 34.0% except for Y. And the solubility of rare earths was observed to be low due to the low concentration of Li2O. The reduction of U was successful as expected showing 99.8% of a metal fraction. Also it was shown that the reduction of ZrO2 would be effective when a relatively small amount was included in a metal oxide mixture.