Evaluation of Pt anode stability in repeated electrochemical oxide reduction reactions for pyroprocessing

Abstract

The widespread use of Pt anodes in pyroprocessing for oxide reduction inspired us to investigate the stability of a representative Pt anode in repeated UO2 reduction experiments. The formation and subsequent exfoliation of an oxide layer on the Pt surface was shown to result in anode degradation, decreasing the electrode thickness from 2 to 1.22 mm and reducing its volume by 42.4% after 33 experiments. Although the above degradation exhibited almost no effect on the UO2 reduction performance of the Pt anode, Pt degradation during long-term oxide reduction was demonstrated to be an important factor for estimating the cost of a pyroprocessing facility.