Evaluation of 2. 25 Cr-1 Mo Alloy for Containment of LiCl/KCl Eutectic during the Treatment of Used Nuclear Fuel

Recovery of uranium from the Mk-IV and Mk-V electrorefiner vessels containing a LiCl/KCl eutectic salt has been on-going for 14 and 12 years, respectively, during the pyrometallurgical processing of used nuclear fuel. Although austenitic stainless steels are typically utilized for LiCl/KCl salt systems, the presence of cadmium in the Mk-IV electrorefiner dictates an alternate material. A 2.25Cr-1Mo alloy (ASME SA-387) was chosen due to the absence of nickel in the alloy which has a considerable solubility in cadmium. Using the transition metal impurities (iron, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, and manganese) in the electrorefined uranium products, an algorithm was developed to derive values for the contribution of the transition metals from the various input sources. Weight loss and corrosion rate data for the Mk-V electrorefiner vessel were then generated based on the transition metal impurities in the uranium products. To date, the corrosion rate of the 2.25Cr-1Mo alloy in LiCl/KCl eutectic is outstanding assuming uniform (i.e. non-localized) conditions.