Actinide Recovery Experiments with Bench-Scale Liquid Cadmium Cathode in Real Fission Product-Laden Molten Salt

Abstract

This article summarizes the observations and analytical results from a series of bench-scale liquid cadmium cathode experiments that recovered transuranic elements together with uranium from a molten electrolyte laden with real fission products. Variable parameters such as the ratio of Pu3+/U3+ in the electrolyte, liquid cadmium cathode voltage, and feed materials were tested in the liquid cadmium cathode experiments. Actinide recovery efficiency and Pu/U ratio in the liquid cadmium cathode product under variable conditions are reported in this paper. Separation factors for actinides and rare earth elements in the molten LiCl-KCl/cadmium system are also presented.