• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.815-819
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• 2018

In this study, criticality safety assessments of the potential for storing transuranic element (TRU) ingots via a pyroprocess were evaluated to determine the appropriate TRU storage design parameters, in this case the ratio of the TRU ingot height to the radius and the number of TRU ingot canisters stacked within a container. Various accident situations were modeled over a modeling period of 5 years for a cumulative inventory of TRU ingots with various water densities in submerged containers and with various pitches between the containers in the facility. Under these combinations, we calculated the threshold of TRU height and radius ratio depending on the number of canisters in a container to keep the stored TRU in a subcritical state. The ratio of the TRU ingot height to radius should not exceed 4.5, 1.1, 0.5, 0.3, and 0.2 for two, three, four, five, and six levels of stacked canisters in a container, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.617-623
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• 2015

$ZrO_2$-based composites reinforced with 6.5 vol.% of carbon foam, carbon fiber, and graphite were fabricated using spark plasma sintering, and characterized using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. Their thermal properties were also investigated. The microstructures of the reinforced composites showed that carbon fiber fully reacted with $ZrO_2$, whereas carbon foam and graphite did not. The carbothermal reaction of carbon fiber had a negative effect on the thermal properties of the reinforced $ZrO_2$ composites because of the formation of zirconium oxycarbide. Meanwhile, the addition of carbon foam had a positive effect, increasing the thermal conductivity from 2.86 to $3.38Wm^{-1}K^{-1}$ at $1,100^{\circ}C$. These findings suggest that the homogenous distribution and chemical stability of reinforcement material affect the thermal properties of $ZrO_2$-based composites.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.367-376
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• 2013

This study investigated mixing scenarios of the low and high conversion ratios (CRs) of fast reactors (FRs). The fuel cycle was modeled so as to minimize the spent fuel (SF) or transuranics (TRU) inventories. The scenarios were modeled for a single low CR of 0.61 and a high CR of 1.0. The study also investigated the mixing scenario of low-high CR and/or high-low CR. The SF and TRU inventories, associated with different scenarios, were compared to those of the light water reactor (LWR) once-through (OT) case. Also, the important isotope concentration and long-term heat (LTH) load were calculated and compared to those of the OT cycle. As a result, it is known that the deployment of FRs of low CR burns more TRU and results in a reduction of the out-of-pile TRU inventory and LTH with low deployment capacity. This study shows that the mixing strategy of FRs of low and high CR can reduce the SF and TRU inventories with lower deployment capacity as compared with a single deployment of FRs of high CR.

• 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.13 no.4
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• pp.263-269
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• 2015

It is necessary to investigate the electrodeposition behavior of uranium and other elements on the cathode in the electrorefining process to recover the uranium selectively from the reduced metals of the electrolytic reduction process since transuranic elements and rare earth elements is dissolved in the LiCl-KCl eutectic salt. Study on separation factors of U, Ce, Y and Nd based on U and Ce was performed to investigate the deposition behavior of the cathode with respect to the concentration of rare earth elements in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt. After electrorefining with constant current mode by using Ce metal as a sacrifice anode, the contents of U, Ce, Y and Nd in the salt phase and the deposit phase of the cathode were analyzed, and separation factors of the elements were obtained from the analyses. Securing conditions of pure uranium recovery in the elctrorefining process was investigated by considering the separation factors with respect to $UCl_3$ and $CeCl_3/UCl_3$ ratio.