Electrorefining of un-irradiated and irradiated U-6 wt. % Zr metal fuel for deposition of uranium

Abstract

The present paper reports the data on electrorefining of un-irradiated and irradiated U-6 wt. % Zr (U-Zr) fuel carried out at 773 K in LiCl-KCl-UCl3 electrolyte in an augmented hot cell facility. The electrorefining cell and electrode handling system were specially designed, fabricated, and installed inside the hot cell. Potentiostatic electrorefining was employed for the selective deposition of uranium. About 61 % and 36 % of initial uranium feed was deposited during the electrorefining of un-irradiated and irradiated U-Zr fuel respectively. Current efficiencies of about 96 % and 80 % were obtained for un-irradiated and irradiated runs respectively. No significant change in concentration of uranium in the electrolyte was observed before and after the electrorefining. The co-deposition of other fission products was negligible and zirconium content in the uranium product was found to be 3 mg/g of uranium.