Engineering Studies of Salt Transport Separations

Engineering work related to the development of salt transport separations is under way. In the initial tests, attention was focused on the transfer of uranium, of ~6 kg of uranium oxide and ~0.5 kg of oxides of cerium, zirconium, molybdenum, palladium, and ruthenium. These tests were conducted in pilot-plant equipment originally used in the studies of the EBR-II skull reclamation process (ANL-7125, pp. 32-35). The objectives of these experiments were to demonstrate the feasibility of salt transport separations, to identify the major engineering problems involved, to determine the fission product decontaminations obtainable, and to provide a clearer understanding of the salt transport step.