Molten salt electrochemistry

The objective of this work is to develop preparation and clean-up processes for the fuel and carrier salt used in the Los Alamos Accelerator-Driven Transmutation Technology molten salt nuclear system. The front-end or fuel preparation process focuses on the removal of fission products, uranium, and zirconium from spent nuclear fuel by utilizing electrochemical methods. The same method provide the separation of the transition metal fission products at the back end of the fuel cycle. Molten salts provide a natural medium for the separation of actinides and fission products from one another because they are robust, radiation resistant solvents that can be recycled. The presentation will describe the design of the electrochemistry system, the method used for salt purification, and results of preliminary experiments