Keywords
Plutonium, Electrorefining, Pyroprocessing
Abstract
Molten salt extraction and electrorefining of plutonium were successfully conducted with only a 200-g initial charge. Due to this small scale, the electrorefining cell components were redesigned relative to conventional, multi-kg standards. The efficiency and yield of this small-scale process are comparable to those of larger-scale exemplars. Chemical analysis of the plutonium product and the anode heel is presented. The product was 99.8% pure. The anode heel was able to be depleted beyond the expected freezing point without significant impurity carryover.
Original Publication Citation
Devin Rappleye, James McNeese, Richard Torres, Kiel Holliday, Jason R. Jeffries, Development of small-scale plutonium electrorefining in molten CaCl2, Journal of Nuclear Materials, Volume 552, 2021, 152968, ISSN 0022-3115, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.152968.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Rappleye, Devin; McNeese, James; Torres, Richard; Holliday, Kiel; and Jeffries, Jason R., "Development of small-scale plutonium electrorefining in molten CaCl2" (2021). Faculty Publications. 8869.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/8869
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2021-03-28
Publisher
Elsevier
Language
English
College
Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering
Department
Chemical Engineering
Copyright Status
© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This is the author's accepted version of this article. The definitive version can be found at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.152968.
Copyright Use Information
https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/