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Electrochemical Deposition with Redox Replacement of Lanthanum with Uranium in Molten LiCl-KCl

  • Jeffrey Eakin
  • , Daniel Molina
  • , Xiaofeng Guo
  • , Haluk Beyenal
  • , Cornelius Ivory

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Electrochemical recovery of dilute concentrations of actinides from spent nuclear fuel would reduce the longevity of storing high-level nuclear waste. Electrochemical deposition with redox replacement (EDRR) is used in a molten salt medium for the selective electrochemical recovery of uranium in the presence of excess concentrations of lanthanum. In each EDRR cycle, after a short electrodeposition pulse, the deposited lanthanum is spontaneously replaced by uranium at open circuit. After repeated cycles, uranium metal was obtained on a tungsten electrode immersed in a LiCl-KCl melt that contained 1 wt% lanthanum chloride—0.15 wt% uranium (IV) chloride. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analysis revealed uranium particles approximately 0.5−1 μm with well-defined rectangular shapes; and with 20-60 times more uranium recovered on the surface of the electrode than lanthanum.

Original languageEnglish
Article number032504
Pages (from-to)032504
JournalJournal of the Electrochemical Society
Volume170
Issue number3
Early online dateMar 10 2023
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 10 2023
Externally publishedYes

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