| Title |
A Study on the Separation of Neodynium and Zirconium from Impure Uranium by Fused-Salt Electrolysis |
| Authors |
이원준(Won Joon Lee) ; 이승호(Seung Ho Lee) ; 이재헌(Jae Heon Lee) ; 이응조(Eung Cho Lee) |
| Abstract |
A study on the electrorefining of an impure uranium containing zirconium and neodymium at 500℃ by KCl-LiCl fused salt electrolysis was performed. The reduction potentials of uranium and neodymium were 0.12V and 0.64V.(vs. Ag/AgCl electrode), respectively. When a 1wt.%Nd of uranium was added as an impurity, 0.001wt% Nd was deposited onto the cathode below 0.5V after electrolysis. When a 10.5wt.% Zr of uranium was added to liquid cadmium anode as an impurity, zirconium was evaporated as ZrCl₄, at 500℃ during electrolysis, and consequently uranium was deposited onto the cathode as a purity of 99.98wt.% U. The morphology of purified uranium was appeared as dendritic structure. The activity coefficient of metallic neodymium for the displacement reaction of UCl₃+Nd_(cd)=NdCl₃+U_(cd), was calculated to be 3.67×10^(-10) at 500℃. |