Chlorination of lanthanum oxide and zirconium oxide by using MoCl5

In the conventional dry process for partitioning long half-life nuclides (mainly transuranium elements) from high-level radioactive waste, a chlorination process converts oxides to chlorides in preparation for separation process. However metals may not be used to construct the chlorination vessel, as they are severely eroded by chlorine gas at the required conversion temperature (700degC). This corrosion would be reduced if the conversion temperature could be lower to below 500degC. Therefore, we propose a new conversion method that uses MoCl5 at a low temperature. Using this method, Lanthanum oxide (La2O3) and Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) can be converted to Lanthanum chlorides (LaCl3) and Zirconium chlorides (ZrCl4) at a temperature below 500degC. (author)