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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
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Latest News
NRC updating GEIS rule for new nuclear technology
The Nuclear Regulatory Agency is issuing a proposed generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) for use in reviewing applications for new nuclear reactors.
In an April 17 memo, NRC secretary Carrie Safford wrote that the commission approved NRC staff’s recommendation to publish in the Federal Register a proposed rule amending 10 CFR Part 51, “Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.”
Suddhasattwa Ghosh, Krishan Kumar, Aligati Venkatesh, P. Venkatesh, Bandi Prabhakara Reddy
Nuclear Technology | Volume 195 | Number 3 | September 2016 | Pages 253-272
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-37
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The DIFAC (DIFfusion of Actinides in EleCtrorefiner) computer code for pyroprocessing, developed earlier by the authors, is modified in the present work to model electrorefining at the liquid cadmium electrode. The modeling of electrorefining of metal fuels requires accurate knowledge of two important kinetic parameters: exchange current density io and diffusion layer thickness δ. These are estimated in the present work by polarization methods and employing Tafel and Allen-Hickling analysis for Gd3+/Gd, U3+/U, and Zr2+/Zr couples in LiCl-KCl eutectic at 773 K for an inert cathode and compared with literature data, wherever possible. The equilibrium potentials for these couples at an inert electrode are found to be −1.94, −1.52, and −1.22 V, respectively, at 773 K. Electrochemical studies are also carried out in LiCl-KCl eutectic to estimate io and δ for the anodic dissolution of Na-bonded U-Zr and Gd-U-Zr alloy and are compared with the anodic dissolution of U-Pu-Zr alloy. The equilibrium potential of Na-bonded U-Zr alloy in LiCl-KCl-UCl3 was found to be −1.46 V, and those for Gd-U-Zr alloy in blank LiCl-KCl and LiCl-KCl-UCl3 were −1.56 and −1.34 V, respectively, at 773 K. The exchange current densities of Na-bonded U-Zr and Gd-U-Zr alloy were found to be in the range of 40.1 to 46.5 mA · cm−2 and 16.8 to 27.3 mA · cm−2 at 773 K, respectively.
A preliminary design of the liquid cadmium electrode suitable for laboratory-scale experiments on uranium- and plutonium-based systems is also reported in the present work. The io and δ of gadolinium, uranium, and zirconium are subsequently estimated at the liquid cadmium electrode at 773 K. The equilibrium potentials for Gd3+/Cd6Gd, U3+/[U]Cd, and Zr2+/Cd3Zr couples in LiCl-KCl eutectic at 773 K for the liquid cadmium electrode are found to be −1.35, −1.13, and−1.12 V, respectively. Finally, a few algorithms are proposed for modeling electrorefining data at the liquid cadmium electrode for multicomponent systems.