Tests of prototype salt stripper system for IFR fuel cycle

One of the waste treatment steps for the on-site reprocessing of spent fuel from the Integral Fast Reactor fuel cycles is stripping of the electrolyte salt used in the electrorefining process. This involves the chemical reduction of the actinides and rare earth chlorides forming metals which then dissolve in a cadmium pool. To develop the equipment for this step, a prototype salt stripper system has been installed in an engineering scale argon-filled glovebox. Pumping trails were successful in transferring 90 kg of LiCl-KCl salt containing uranium and rare earth metal chlorides at 500{degree}C from an electrorefiner to the stripper vessel at a pumping rate of about 5 L/min. The freeze seal solder connectors which were used to join sections of the pump and transfer line performed well. Stripping tests have commenced employing an inverted cup charging device to introduce a Cd-15 wt % Li alloy reductant to the stripper vessel.