Separation and Solidification of Rare Earth Nuclides from LiCl-KCl Based Eutectic Waste Salts using a series of Phosphorylation/Distillation/Solidification Processes

Pyroporcessing of spent nuclear fuel generates a considerable amount of LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt containing radioactive rare earth (RE) chlorides. In this study, a series of processes, which consist of a phosphorylation/distillation process and a solidification process, were performed to minimize volume of the LiCl-KCl eutectic waste salt and solidify a residual waste into a stable form at a relatively low temperature. Over 99wt% of RE chlorides in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt was converted and separated into in the phosphorylation/distillation process using a mixture of . The separated was solidified into a homogeneous and fine-grained form at using LIP(Lead Iron Phosphate) as a solidification agent. The final waste volume was reduced below about 10% through the series of the processes.