ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
June 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
North American construction is back—smaller and faster—at OPG’s Darlington
“The nuclear renaissance is real here,” said Ontario Power Generation’s Subo Sinnathamby on May 8, one year to the day after OPG secured a final investment decision to build the first of four planned BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington nuclear power plant, and shortly after the new reactor’s foundation was lifted into place. “We got our license to construct in April and our [final investment decision] in May, and we’ve been off to the races since.”
Yung-Zun Cho, Gil-Ho Park, Han-Su Lee, In-Tae Kim, Dae-Seok Han
Nuclear Technology | Volume 171 | Number 3 | September 2010 | Pages 325-334
Technical Paper | Pyro 08 Special / Reprocessing | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-7
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As an alternative to conventional Group I and II separation methods (such as adding a chemical agent and ion exchange), melt crystallization processes, zone freezing, and layer melt crystallization were tested for the separation (or concentration) of cesium and strontium fission products in a LiCl waste salt generated from an electrolytic reduction process of a spent oxide fuel. In these melt crystallization processes, impurities (CsCl and SrCl2) are concentrated in a small fraction of the LiCl salt by the solubility difference between the melt phase and the crystal phase. As experimental variables, initial molten salt temperature, crucible rising velocity in the zone freezing case, and cooling air flow rate in the layer crystallization case were used. In the zone freezing process, although the operating time is long (1.7 mm/h of crucible rising velocity) when assuming a LiCl salt reuse rate of 90 wt%, >90% separation efficiency for both CsCl and SrCl2 was shown. In the layer crystallization process, the crystal growth rate strongly affects the crystal structure and therefore the separation efficiency. At a 25 to 30 [script l]/min cooling air flow rate, 700 to 710°C initial molten salt temperature, and <5 g/min crystal growth rate, the separation efficiency of both CsCl and SrCl2 exceeded 90% by the layer crystallization process, assuming a LiCl salt reuse rate of 90 wt%.