• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.138-144
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• 2013

Electrochemical reductions of $UO_2$ at various anode-to-cathode distances (1.3, 2.3, 3.2, 3.7 and 5.8 cm) were carried out to investigate the effect of the anode-to-cathode distance on the electrochemical reduction rate. The geometry of the electrolysis cell in this study, apart from the anode-to-cathode distance, was identical for all of the electrolysis runs. Porous $UO_2$ pellets were electrolyzed by controlling a constant cell voltage in molten $Li_2O-LiCl$ at $650^{\circ}C$. A steel basket containing the porous $UO_2$ pellets and a platinum plate were used as the cathode and anode, respectively. The metallic products were characterized by means of a thermogravimetric analyzer, an X-ray diffractometer and a scanning electron microscope. The electrolysis runs conducted during this study revealed that a short anode-to-cathode distance is advantageous to achieve a high current density and accelerate the electrochemical reduction process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1534-1539
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• 2021

This study reports on the dissolution behavior of SrO in LiCl at varying SrO concentrations from low concentrations to excess. The amount of SrO dissolved in the molten salt and the species present upon cooling were determined. The thermal behavior of LiCl containing various concentrations of SrO was investigated. The experimental results were compared with results from the simulated results using the HSC Chemistry software package. Although the reaction of SrO with LiCl in the standard state at 650 ℃ has a slightly positive Gibbs free energy, SrO was found to be highly soluble in LiCl. Experimentally determined SrO concentrations were found to be considerably higher than those present in used nuclear fuel (<2 g/kg). As Sr-90 is one of the most important heat-generating nuclides in used nuclear fuel, this finding will be impactful in the development of fast, simple, and proliferation-resistant heat reduction processes for used nuclear fuel without the need for separating nuclear materials. Heat reduction is important as it decreases both the volume necessary for final disposal and the worker handling risk.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.43-67
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• 1983

In order to increase the sensitivity of the photographic emulsion, one of the chemical sensitizers hydroxymethane sulfonic acid sodium salt(HMS) was applied through the chemical ripening process and following four types of emulsion were prepared. Their grain sizes were determined through the electron microscope. The ranges of average grain sizes were $0.05-0.40{\mu}m$ for silver chlorobromide emulsion of low sensitivity $0.10-0.45{\mu}m$ for the silver chlorobromide emulsion of medium sensitivity, $0.60-1.05{\mu}m$ for the silver iodobromide emulsion of high sensitivity, and $0.90-1.55{\mu}m$ for the ammonical silver iodobromide emulsion of high sensitivity. Through the reduction sensitization with HMS, they showed significant sensitivity enhancement by the increment of HMS concentration above pH 5.5 and pBr 3.0. Required sensitivity was obtained above pH 6.2 and pBr 3.3 when sulfur and gold sensitization were applied. Fog formed along the reduction sensitization was successfully prevented by the addition of 5.5-dimethylhydantion.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2003

An electrochemical reduction technology which can reduce the decay heat, volume, and radioactivity of spent fuel by a factor of quarter through converting oxide type spent fuel to a metallic form in a molten salt was developed and tests in a scale of g (3- 40g $U_{3}O_{8}$ batch) have been carried out by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. In this research, the reaction apparatus in a scale of 5kg $U_{3}O_{8}$ batch was designed and manufactured for the mock-up test to obtain design data of the apparatus which will be used for the hot test in a scale of 20kg $U_{3}O_{8}$ batch. The electrochemical reduction behavior of $U_{3}O_{8}$ was analyzed regarding the operational factors and fresh $U_{3}O_{8}$ powder was metallized with a more than 99% yield verifying the process validity of electrochemical reduction process in a kg scale.

• 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.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2019.05a
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• pp.429-431
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• 2019

Noise in image processing has a direct effect on the quality of the image, and adversely affects the processing of the system including algorithms such as image segmentation, edge detection, and image recognition. Therefore, noise reduction plays an important role in the preprocessing process. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm to remove noise in high density of Salt and Pepper noise. The proposed algorithm removes noise by gradually expanding the filtering mask according to the density of the noise, and shows excellent noise cancellation performance even in a high density region. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, we compared and analyzed the existing method and the proposed algorithm through simulation.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.81-87
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• 2022

Energy consumption per unit weight of metal (kwh/kg of metal) is one of the most important economic indicators in the process of molten salt electrolysis. It is related to the heat loss of salt bath and the current efficiency of the process. The current efficiency is highly dependent on electrolysis temperature. On the other hand, the temperature of salt bath may increase significantly due to the difference (larger energy input than consumption) in heat balance at the beginning of electrolysis, which may cause different electrolysis temperature from an initially targeted value. This results in a bad effect on current efficiency. Therefore, it will be helpful to the reduction of energy consumption to compare the calculated and measured values of the temperature change of salt bath through the heat balance review at the early stage of electrolysis and to evaluate the energy loss to outside. In this study, based on the authors' experimental data, the heat balance was reviewed at the beginning of the electrolysis, and it was possible to evaluate the energy loss to the outside and the increase of the temperature of the salt bath quantitatively. Through such a method, heat loss reduction plan can be derived and current efficiency can be improved so that energy consumption can be reduced.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2012

A molten salt technology using $Li_2O$-LiCl has been extensively investigated to recover uranium metal from spent fuels in the field of nuclear energy. In the reduction process, it is an important point to maintain the concentration of $Li_2O$. $ZrO_2$ is inevitably contained in the spent fuels because Zr is one of the main components of fuel rod hulls. Therefore, the fate of $ZrO_2$ in $Li_2O$-LiCl molten salt has been investigated. It was found that $Li_2ZrO_3$ and $Li_4ZrO_4$ were formed chemically and electrochemically and they were not reduced to Zr. The recycling of $Li_2O$ is the key mechanism ruling the total reaction in the electrolytic reduction process. However, $ZrO_2$ will have a role as a $Li_2O$ sink.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.2 s.76
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• pp.3-11
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• 2007

It is to review the current status of magnesium smelting. Raw materials for magnesium source, worldwide production and producers of metallic magnesium, Korean magnesium markets and some important extraction technologies were reviewed. The magnesium extraction technologies were described according to the two major reduction methods: the fused salt electrolysis and the thermal reduction method. Also, the research on the extraction of magnesium from magnesite which has been being carried out at KIGAM was briefly introduced with discussing the related topics on the recycling of the chlorine and the hydrogen chloride gas used in the process.