• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.279-288
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• 2014

Nuclear energy is expected to meet the growing energy demand while avoiding CO2 emission. However, the problem of accumulating spent fuel from current nuclear power plants which is mainly composed of uranium oxides should be addressed. One of the most practical solutions is to reduce the spent oxide fuel and recycle it. Next-generation fuel cycles demand innovative features such as a reduction of the environmental load, improved safety, efficient recycling of resources, and feasible economics. Pyroprocessing based on molten salt electrolysis is one of the key technologies for reducing the amount of spent nuclear fuel and destroying toxic waste products, such as the long-life fission products. The oxide reduction process based on the electrochemical reduction in a LiCl-$Li_2O$ electrolyte has been developed for the volume reduction of PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) spent fuels and for providing metal feeds for the electrorefining process. To speed up the electrochemical reduction process, the influences of the feed form for the cathode and the type of anode shroud on the reduction rate were investigated.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.85-89
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• 2010

The uranium ingot casting process is one of the steps which consolidate uranium deposits produced by electrorefiner as an ingot form in a pryprocessing technique. This paper introduces new design concept of the ingot casting equipment and the performance test results of the lab-scale ingot casting equipment fabricated based on the design concept. Casting equipment produces the uranium ingot by pouring an uranium melt into a mold by tilting a melting crucible. Also it is equipped with a cup which is able to continuously feed uranium deposits into a melting crucible. The productivity could be significantly enhanced by introducing the continuous operation concept.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.277-278
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• 2016

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2010

The pyrometallurgical nuclear fuel recycle process, called pyroprocessing, has been known as a promising nuclear fuel recycling technology. Pyroprocessing technology is crucial to advanced nuclear systems due to increased nuclear proliferation resistance and economic efficiency. The basic concept of pyroprocessing is group actinide recovery, which enhances the nuclear proliferation resistance significantly. One of the key steps in pyroprocessing is "electrowinning" which recovers group actinides with lanthanide from the spent nuclear fuels. In this study, a vertical cadmium distiller was manufactured. The evaporation rate of pure cadmium in vertical cadmium distiller varied from 12.3 to $40.8g/cm^2/h$ within a temperature range of 773 923 K and pressure below 0.01 torr. Uranium - cadmium alloy was fabricated by electrolysis using liquid cadmium cathode in a high purity argon atmosphere glove box. The distillation behavior of pure cadmium and cadmium in uranium - cadmium alloy was investigated. The distillation behavior of cadmium from this study could be used to develop an actinide recovery process from a liquid cadmium cathode in a cadmium distiller.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2018

In case of high contents of rare earths in the LiCl-KCl salt, it is not easy to recover U and TRU metals as a usable resource form from LiCl-KCl eutectic salts generated from the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. In this study, a conversion of $UCl_3$ into an oxide form using $K_2CO_3$ and an electrodeposition of $NdCl_3$ into a metal form in $LiCl-KCl-UCl_3-NdCl_3$ system were conducted to resolve the problem. Before conducting the conversion, experimental conditions for the conversion were determined by performing a thermodynamic equilibrium calculation. In this study, almost all of $UCl_3$ disappeared in the LiCl-KCl salt when the injection of $K_2CO_3$ reached theoretical equivalent for the conversion, and then $NdCl_3$ was effectively electrodeposited as a metal form using liquid zinc cathode. After that, the LiCl-KCl salt became transparent, and uranium oxides were precipitated to the bottom of the LiCl-KCl salt. These results will be utilized in designing a process to separate U and rare earths in LiCl-KCl salt.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.207-215
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• 2020

The feasibility of rare earth (RE) removal process via oxidation reactions with UCl₃ was investigated using the HSC Chemistry code to reduce the concentrations of RE in transuranic (TRU) products. The composition and thermodynamic data of TRU and RE elements contained in the reference spent fuel were examined. The reactivity was evaluated by calculating equilibrium data considering oxidation reactions with UCl₃. Both RE removal rate and TRU recovery rate were evaluated for the two cases, wherein TRU products with different RE concentrations were used. When TRU products were reacted with UCl₃, selective oxidation was driven by the difference in the Gibbs free energy of each element. The calculation results imply that the TRU/RE ratio of the final product can be increased by removing RE elements while maintaining the maximum recovery rate of TRU, which is accomplished by controlling the amount of UCl₃ injected. Since the results of this study are based on thermodynamic equilibrium data, there are many limitations to apply to the actual process. However, it is expected to be used as an important data for the process design to supply the TRU product of pyroprocessing to SFR's fuel demanding low RE concentrations.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2009

The decay heat of Cs and Sr contained in a LiCl waste salt, generated from an electrolytic reduction process in pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, has been calculated. The calculation has been carried out under some assumptions that most of the LiCl waste is purified and recycled to main process, and the residual is fabricated to make a waste form. As a result, the decay heat from daughter nuclides such as Ba and Y seems to be maximum 4.6 times higher than that from their parent nuclides such as Cs and Sr. The thermal release from Cs and Sr in the LiCl waste is the maximum around the first one month, so an cooling system operation for some time at the beginning would be suggested to control a rapid increase in the temperature of the LiCl waste salt.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 2017

The pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel generates LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt containing radioactive rare earth nuclides. It is necessary to develop a simple process for the treatment of LiCl-KCl eutectic waste in a hot-cell facility. In this study, capture and solidification of a rare earth nuclide (Nd) in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt using an inorganic composite with a $Li_2O-Al_2O_3-SiO_2-B_2O_3$ system was conducted to simplify the existing separation and solidification process of rare earth nuclides in LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt from the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. More than 98wt% of Nd in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt was captured when the mass ratio of the composite was 0.67 over $NdCl_3$ in the eutectic salt. The content of $Nd_2O_3$ in the Nd captured-composite reached about 50wt%, and this composite was directly fabricated into a homogeneous and chemical resistant glass waste in a monolithic form. These results will be utilized in designing a process to simplify the existing separation and solidification process.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.33-54
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• 2021

With the fourth industrial revolution and the arrival of the New Normal era due to Corona, the importance of Non-contact technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data research has been increasing. Convergent research is being conducted in earnest to keep up with these research trends, but not many studies have been conducted in the area of nuclear research using artificial intelligence and big data-related technologies such as natural language processing and text mining analysis. This study was conducted to confirm the applicability of data science analysis techniques to the field of nuclear research. Furthermore, the study of identifying trends in nuclear spent fuel recognition is critical in terms of being able to determine directions to nuclear industry policies and respond in advance to changes in industrial policies. For those reasons, this study conducted a media trend analysis of pyroprocessing, a spent nuclear fuel treatment technology. We objectively analyze changes in media perception of spent nuclear fuel dry treatment techniques by applying text mining analysis techniques. Text data specializing in Naver's web news articles, including the keywords "Pyroprocessing" and "Sodium Cooled Reactor," were collected through Python code to identify changes in perception over time. The analysis period was set from 2007 to 2020, when the first article was published, and detailed and multi-layered analysis of text data was carried out through analysis methods such as word cloud writing based on frequency analysis, TF-IDF and degree centrality calculation. Analysis of the frequency of the keyword showed that there was a change in media perception of spent nuclear fuel dry treatment technology in the mid-2010s, which was influenced by the Gyeongju earthquake in 2016 and the implementation of the new government's energy conversion policy in 2017. Therefore, trend analysis was conducted based on the corresponding time period, and word frequency analysis, TF-IDF, degree centrality values, and semantic network graphs were derived. Studies show that before the 2010s, media perception of spent nuclear fuel dry treatment technology was diplomatic and positive. However, over time, the frequency of keywords such as "safety", "reexamination", "disposal", and "disassembly" has increased, indicating that the sustainability of spent nuclear fuel dry treatment technology is being seriously considered. It was confirmed that social awareness also changed as spent nuclear fuel dry treatment technology, which was recognized as a political and diplomatic technology, became ambiguous due to changes in domestic policy. This means that domestic policy changes such as nuclear power policy have a greater impact on media perceptions than issues of "spent nuclear fuel processing technology" itself. This seems to be because nuclear policy is a socially more discussed and public-friendly topic than spent nuclear fuel. Therefore, in order to improve social awareness of spent nuclear fuel processing technology, it would be necessary to provide sufficient information about this, and linking it to nuclear policy issues would also be a good idea. In addition, the study highlighted the importance of social science research in nuclear power. It is necessary to apply the social sciences sector widely to the nuclear engineering sector, and considering national policy changes, we could confirm that the nuclear industry would be sustainable. However, this study has limitations that it has applied big data analysis methods only to detailed research areas such as "Pyroprocessing," a spent nuclear fuel dry processing technology. Furthermore, there was no clear basis for the cause of the change in social perception, and only news articles were analyzed to determine social perception. Considering future comments, it is expected that more reliable results will be produced and efficiently used in the field of nuclear policy research if a media trend analysis study on nuclear power is conducted. Recently, the development of uncontact-related technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data research is accelerating in the wake of the recent arrival of the New Normal era caused by corona. Convergence research is being conducted in earnest in various research fields to follow these research trends, but not many studies have been conducted in the nuclear field with artificial intelligence and big data-related technologies such as natural language processing and text mining analysis. The academic significance of this study is that it was possible to confirm the applicability of data science analysis technology in the field of nuclear research. Furthermore, due to the impact of current government energy policies such as nuclear power plant reductions, re-evaluation of spent fuel treatment technology research is undertaken, and key keyword analysis in the field can contribute to future research orientation. It is important to consider the views of others outside, not just the safety technology and engineering integrity of nuclear power, and further reconsider whether it is appropriate to discuss nuclear engineering technology internally. In addition, if multidisciplinary research on nuclear power is carried out, reasonable alternatives can be prepared to maintain the nuclear industry.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.181-186
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• 2015

It is necessary to develop an effective waste salt treatment technology for the minimization of radioactive waste generation from the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. For this reason, the separation characteristics of NdCl₃ from LiCl-KCl eutectic salt in a reactive distillation process using Li₂CO₃ or K₂CO₃ were observed. NdCl₃ was converted into oxychloride (NdOCl) or oxide (Nd₂O₃) in the reaction model between NdCl₃ and the carbonates using HSC-Chemistry, and this result was confirmed in the reactive distillation test of the LiCl-KCl-NdCl₃ system using the carbonates. Based on these results, the reactive distillation process conditions were determined to separate NdCl₃ into an oxide form (Nd₂O₃) which can be easily fabricated into a final waste form.