Separation and Recovery of Uranium and Group Actinide Products From Irradiated Fast Reactor MOX Fuel via Electrolytic Reduction and Electrorefining

A series of bench-scale tests was conducted with irradiated fast reactor MOX fuel to separate and recover refined uranium and group actinide products via electrolytic reduction and electrorefining. The fuel was declad, crushed, immersed in a pool of molten LiCl −1 wt% Li2O at 650°C, and electrolyzed to convert the mixed oxide fuel to metal. The reduced fuel was then electrorefined in LiCl-KCl-UCl3 at 500°C, yielding a refined uranium metal product. Additional electrorefining experiments were performed in which actinides (that is, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, and americium) were recovered as a group metal product.