Advances in the study of electroreduction pulsed sieve plate columns for plutonium

In the Purex process, due to remarkable differences of TBP's extraction ability for uranium and plutonium of variant valences, the decontamination for fission products and separation for U and Pu can be achieved by adjusting their valences via redox for many times. Therefore, the selection of reducing agent for Pu is very important in the reprocessing. In order to meet the needs of developing advanced nuclear fuel cycling system for power reactor and improving the reprocessing process, the author briefly introduces the characteristics of electrochemical reduction, describes the principle of Pu electroreduction and mass transfer in electro-pulsed column, and in particular discusses the development of electro-pulsed column from the type of cylindrical cathode/anode screen to a conical shaped cathode/anode separators and further to normal type of pulsed sieve plate column without the diaphragm between cathode and anode. Based on the investigations, the background of developing the electroreduction pulsed column can be established in China