Thermodynamic Properties of Lanthanides and Actinides for Reductive Extraction of Minor Actinides

Abstract

The excess thermodynamic quantities of lanthanides and actinides in molten salts and liquid metals were studied for reductive extraction of minor actinides. The excess enthalpies and entropies of those elements in the molten chloride phase were found to be correlated with the ionic radii of metal ions possibly due to complex formation. In the liquid metal phase, on the other hand, the excess enthalpies were explained with Miedema's atomistic model and the excess entropies were explained with the vibrational entropy due to alloy formation. Using these correlations and models, some missing values of the excess thermodynamic quantities were evaluated and the separation factors of minor actinides from lanthanides were calculated in different reductive extraction systems. The higher separation factors were obtained in the system using aluminum or gallium than in the system using bismuth or cadmium as the liquid metal phase.