Development of lithium process for reprocessing LWR spent fuel

In the lithium process developed at Argonne National Laboratory, the LWR oxide spent fuel is reduced by lithium and the actinides (U, Pu, Np, Am, Cm) are recovered in metal form. We investigated two main steps of the process, the reduction step of actinide oxides by lithium and the lithium recycle step from Li2O produced at the reduction step. At the reduction step, it was found to be important for Li2O produced on the oxide surface to be rapidly removed by dissolving into the molten salt. As for the lithium recycle step, this method was confirmed to be promising and the spent salt and lithium could be recycled at the reduction step. In addition, simultaneous regeneration and reduction apparatus which performs reduction of oxide and electrolysis of Li2O simultaneously has been developed. The feasibility of the apparatus was confirmed. The lithium process was confirmed to have high feasibility for reprocessing LWR spent fuel. (author)