• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.213-218
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• 2009

Electrowinning process recovers uranium with actinide elements from spent fuels and is a key step in the Pyroprocessing because of proliferation resistance. An analysis of heat transfer of the Electrowinning cell was conducted to develop basic tool for designing engineering-scale Electrowinner. For the calculation of the heat transfer, ANSYS CFX commercial code was adapted. As a result of the calculation, the vertical Heating Zone length had great effect upon temperature of LiCl-KCl eutectic salt. To maintain constant temperature in the salt, the Heating Zone length should be three times longer than the height of the salt. However, the argon and salt temperatures were barely affected by the Cooling Zone length. The temperature under the Cell cover was mainly influenced by the number of the cooling plates. When the cooling plates were installed more than the number of 5, temperature under the cover was maintained below $250^{\circ}C$. These temperature properties had similar tendency toward the temperature of the Cell which was measured from experiments, Simulated heat transfer information from this study could be used to design engineering-scale Electrowinner.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2010.10a
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• pp.219-220
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• 2010

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

In the present work, an electrowinning process in the LiCl-KCl/Cd system is considered to model and analyze the electrotransport of the actinide and rare-earth elements. A simple dynamic modeling of this process was performed by taking into account the material balances and diffusion-controlled electrochemical reactions in a diffusion boundary layer at an electrode interface between the molten salt electrolyte and liquid cadmium cathode. The proposed modeling approach was based on the half-cell reduction reactions of metal chloride occurring on the cathode. This model demonstrated a capability for the prediction of the concentration behaviors, a faradic current of each element and an electrochemical potential as function of the time up to the corresponding electrotransport satisfying a given applied current based on a galvanostatic electrolysis. The results of selected case studies including five elements (U, Pu, Am, La, Nd) system are shown, and a preliminary simulation is carried out to show how the model can be used to understand the electrochemical characteristics and provide better information for developing an advanced electrowinner.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.423-427
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• 2018

For diamond/metal composites it is better to use diamond particles coated with metal carbide because of improved wettability between the diamond particles and the matrix. In this study, the coating of diamond particles with a chromium carbide layer is investigated. On heating diamond and chromium powders at $800{\sim}900^{\circ}C$ in molten salts of LiCl, KCl, $CaCl_2$, the diamond particles are coated with $Cr_7C_3$. The surfaces of the diamond powders are analyzed using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The average thickness of the $Cr_7C_3$ coating layers is calculated from the result of the particle size analysis. By using the molten salt method, the $Cr_7C_3$ coating layer is uniformly formed on the diamond particles at a relatively low temperature at which the graphitization of the diamond particles is avoided. Treatment temperatures are lower than those in the previously proposed methods. The coated layer is thickened with an increase in heating temperature up to $900^{\circ}C$. The coating reaction of the diamond particles with chromium carbide is much more rapid in $LiCl-KCl-CaCl_2$ molten salts than with the molten salts of $KCl-CaCl_2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.273-273
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• 2010

최근 들어 에너지 개발과 환경문제의 해결방안으로 열전발전 및 열전냉각에 많은 관심과 연구가 진행되고 있다. 열전소재의 특성 향상을 위해 열전성능지수를 높이기 위하여 나노 입자상을 열전소재 내에 분산하고자 하는 연구가 진행되었다. Grain 내에 나노 입자를 분산하기 위해서는 원료 입자에서부터 나노 입자가 열전소재 내에 분산되어야 하며 이것은 산화물 나노입자의 코어-쉘 형성으로부터 가능하다. 이 과정에서 나노 입자를 열전소재 내에 코어로 분산하기위한 나노입자의 합성 및 제어가 필수적이다. 본 연구에서는 용융염법을 이용한 BaTiO3 나노 일자를 합성하고 이들을 용매에 분산하는 것을 목표로 하였다. 염으로는 KCl, LiCl, NaCl 및 이들의 혼합 염을 사용하였으며 염의 청가량, 염의 종류, 반응온도 및 반응시간의 변화에 따라 BaTiO3 나노 입자를 합성하였다. 또한, 합성된 나노 입자의 입자크기와 응집 제어를 통해 나노입자들의 분산 상태를 확인해 보았다. 이 결과는 SEM, TEM, 입도측정기, XRD등의 측정 결과를 통하여 확인하고자 하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.180-185
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• 2003

The reductions in final waste form and material costs, which were induced from an introduction of salt waste regeneration system, have been estimated and compared with those of the present pyrochemical process, which is under development in KAERI. The results calculated on the basis of published data and proper assumption showed that the final waste form of LiCl waste from the Advanced Conditioning Process would be reduced about 3.7 to#ton HM (from 5.4 to 1.7 ton/ton HM). For the case of LiCl-KCl eutectic salt waste from the electro-refining process, the final waste form would be reduced 2.3 ton/ton U. Thus, these estimation suggested that the introduction of salt waste regeneration system was essential to improve the economical efficiency of the pyrochemical process.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2012

The metal chloride wastes from a pyrochemical process to recover uranium and transuranic elements has been considered as a problematic waste difficult to apply to a conventional solidification method due to the high volatility and low compatibility with silicate glass. In this study, a dechlorination approach to treat LiCl-KCl waste for final disposal was adapted. In this study, a $SiO_2-Al_2O_3-P_2O_5$ (SAP) inorganic composite as a dechlorination agent was prepared by a conventional sol-gel process. By using a series of SAPs, the dechlorination behavior and consolidation of reaction products were investigated. Different from LiCl waste, the dechlorination reaction occurred mainly at two temperature ranges. The thermogravimetric test indicated that the first reaction range was about $400^{\circ}C$ for LiCl and the second was about $700^{\circ}C$ for KCl. The SAP 1071 (Si/Al/P=1/0.75/1 in molar) was found to be the most favorable SAP as a dechlorination agent under given conditions. The consolidation test revealed that the bulk shape and the densification of consolidated forms depended on the SAP/Salt ratios. The leaching test by PCT-A method was performed to evaluate the durability of consolidated forms. This study provided the basic information on the dechlorination approach. Based on the experimental results, the dechlorination method using a $SiO_2-Al_2O_3-P_2O_5$ (SAP) could be considered as one of alternatives for the immobilization of waste salt.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

Ceramic Fiber separator is the promising material for thermal battery system because it reduces the production cost and offers the potential to a new application compared to a pellet type electrolyte. The molten salt electrolytes for thermal battery were prepared by the impregnation of the commercial glass filters such as GF-A, C and F (Whatman, USA) with two types of molten-lithium salts, LiCl-KCl and LiK-LiBr-LiF. The wetting properties were evaluated by wetting balance test and wetting angle measurement. The wetting behaviors were strongly affected by the composition of the molten salts and the pore structure of the glass separators. The optimum wetting conditions for maximum loading and effective retention of the molten electrolyte were also studied.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2010

The electrorefining process, one of main processes which are composed of pyroprocess to recover the useful elements from spent fuel, and the domestic development of electrorefiner have been reviewed. The electrorefiner is composed of an anode basket containing reduced spent fuel such as uranium, transuranic and rare earth elements, and a solid cathode, which are in LiCl-KCl eutectic electrolyte. Oxidation (dissolution) reaction occurs on the anode and a pure uranium is electrochemically reduced (deposited) on the solid cathode. By application of graphite cathode, which has a self-scrapping characteristics for the uranium deposits, and a recovery of the fallen deposits by a screw conveyer, a high-throughput continuous electrorefiner with a capacity of 20 kgU/day has been developed.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2010

In the pyroprocessing of spent nuclear fuels, LiCl-KCl waste salt containing radioactive rare earth chlorides are generated. The radioactive rare earth oxides are recovered by co-oxidative precipitation of rare earth elements. The powder phase of rare eath oxide waste must be immobilized to produce a monolithic wasteform suitable for storage and ultimate disposal. The immobilization of these waste developed in this study involves a solid state sintering of the waste with host borosilicate glass and zinc titanate based ceramic matrix(ZIT). And the rare-earth monazite which synthesised by reaction of ammonium di-hydrogen phosphate with the rare earth oxides waste, were immobilzed with the borosilicate glass. It is shown that the developed ZIT ceramic wasteform is highly resistant the leaching process, high density and thermal conductivity.