Progress of the R and D program on pyrochemistry at CEA

The Nuclear Energy Direction of the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique has currently identified two potential applications of the pyro-technology: (1) reprocessing of irradiated fuels or targets used for the minor actinides transmutation, (2) reprocessing of spent Generation IV Gas Cooled Reactor Fuels, where all the actinides should be recycled together. Therefore a R and D program has been launched in 1999 to re-assess the claimed advantages of the pyro-technology with regard to the new stakes. Originally proposed and developed in Marcoule, the program is now well supported by French collaborations, by European contracts and by international bilateral collaborations. The investigations are conducted for a best understanding of the actinide chemistry in non-aqueous media, for testing new promising separation techniques and for comparing existing techniques taking into account the new separation and recovery constraints. CEA proposes the reductive extraction in molten fluorides by liquid aluminum as actinides/fission products separation technique; it really offers potentialities for a grouped actinides recovery and sufficient separation from fission products. This paper is describing the recent progress and development obtained in that field (process integration studies, actinide separation, apparatus development and salt confinement). (author)