Electrodeposition of alkali and alkali-earth metals on liquid lead cathodes in molten salts

Pyrochemical processing of spent nuclear fuel leads to the dissolution as chlorides of fission products (FPs) that have to be removed in order to recycle the salt. Precipitation technique have been tested for the removal of these FPs in the LiCl-KCl, salt selected as reference, with different results. Salt decontamination from lanthanides can be easily achieved as solid precipitates of oxychlorides or single phosphates; however, for the alkaline and alkaline-earth metals this technique is not suitable. Within the EUROPART project (VI FP of the EC), a new route that consist of the electrodeposition of these FP on a liquid lead cathode (LLC) has been considered, including the Li and K constituting the electrolyte. First results obtained with Sr and Cs are presented herein. Although according to the thermodynamic potential values, the electrodeposition order on LLC is Ba, Sr, Li, K and Cs, during our experiments it was not possible to distinguish the electrochemical signals corresponding to the individual elements. (authors)