Development of pyrometallurgical partitioning technology for TRU. Chlorination in a molten chloride bath

Concerning a chlorination step of a pyrometallurgical partitioning process for recovery of transuranic elements from high-level liquid waste, we have clarified that simulated materials can be chlorinated as expected by a direct chlorination process using carbon powders and chlorine gas, although two concerns remain to be addressed, the decrease in the evaporation ratio of some chlorides and the separation of unreacted reductant and remaining oxides from chlorides. In this study, we showed that not only the unreacted ratio of the simulated materials significantly decrease but the chlorination ratio increases using molten LiCl-KCl bath chlorination process, although the evaporation ratio of volatile chlorides is hardly decreased. (author)