Integrated Efficiency Test for Pyrochemical Fuel Cycles

An engineering-scale integrated efficiency test was conducted with sodium-bonded, spent EBR-II drive fuel elements. The major pieces of equipment involved in the test were the element chopper, Mk-IV electrorefiner, cathode processor, and casting furnace. Four electrorefining batches (containing 50.4 kg HM) were processed under a set of fixed operating parameters that have been developed for the equipment based on over a decade's worth of processing experience. A mass balance around this equipment was performed. Actinide dissolution and recovery efficiencies were established based on the mass balance and chemical analytical results of various samples taken from process streams during the integrated efficiency test