A reactive distillation process for the treatment of LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt containing rare earth chlorides

The pyrochemical process, which recovers useful resources (U/TRU metals) from used nuclear fuel using an electrochemical method, generates LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt containing radioactive rare earth chlorides (RECl₃). It is necessary to develop a simple process for the treatment of LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt in a hot-cell facility. For this reason, a reactive distillation process using a chemical agent was achieved as a method to separate rare earths from the LiCl-KCl waste salt. Before conducting the reactive distillation, thermodynamic equilibrium behaviors of the reactions between rare earth (Nd, La, Ce, Pr) chlorides and the chemical agent (K₂CO₃) were predicted using software. The addition of the chemical agent was determined to separate the rare earth chlorides into an oxide form using these equilibrium results. In the reactive distillation test, the rare earth chlorides in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt were decontaminated at a decontamination factor (DF) of more than 5000, and were mainly converted into oxide (Nd₂O₃, CeO₂, La₂O₃, Pr₂O₃) or oxychloride (LaOCl, PrOCl) forms. The LiCl-KCl was purified into a form with a very low concentration (<1 ppm) for the rare earth chlorides.