Experimental Study of Codeposition Electrochemistry Using Mixtures of ScCl3 and YCl3 in LiCl-KCl Eutectic Salt at 500 C

Cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry tests were applied to molten LiCl-KCl eutectic at 500 °C including amounts of ScCl3 and YCl3. The purpose of the testing was to observe the effect of applied electrical current on the codeposition of scandium and yttrium, which were chosen as surrogate elements for uranium and plutonium, respectively. Features of the work were to vary the concentration of ScCl3 (at relatively low concentrations) as well as varying the applied current, all with a fixed concentration of YCl3. Results of the experiments could provide insight of uranium electrorefining and may provide evidence, which suggests the electrorefiner could be operated at lower UCl3 concentration whereby codeposition (U and Pu) could be more effectively controlled.