Abstract
The MOX pellet of approximately 10g was reduced with lithium metal in molten lithium chloride at 923K. The pellet has high density and consists of 90% of uranium, 10% of plutonium, and 0.2% of americium growing in from plutonium. No major fracturing of the pellet occurred during reaction. Uranium and plutonium were essentially completely reduced to metal with no significant change in the ratio between them. Most of the lithium oxide generated by the reaction dissolved in the molten salt. SEM observation clearly showed a lot of pores and cracks in the reacted pellet. The generation of the apertures was caused by significant decrease of molar volume from oxide to metal. Plutonium and americium were detected in the samples taken from the molten salt during the experiment. Approximately 5% of initial load of plutonium and 75% of americium eluded from the pellet and most of them precipitated on the bottom of the crucible in end of the experiment.
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