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Electrochemical behavior and electrowinning of uranium(IV) from FLiNaK molten salt

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Abstract

The electrochemical behaviors and electrowinning of uranium from LiF–NaF–KF (46.5–11.5–42.0 mol%, FLiNaK) molten salt were investigated. Cyclic voltammetric and chronopotentiometric studies revealed the presence of two steps during the electro-reduction of UF4 on W electode. U(IV) undergoes a one-electron reduction to form U(III) followed by a three-electron reduction to form U(0). The diffusion coefficient (D) of U(IV) ion was determined to be 1.33 × 10−6 cm2 s−1 at 550 °C. Based on the electrochemical behaviors of U(IV) in FLiNaK melt, pulse current electrolysis was carried out using Ni electrode. The black bulks obtained as electrolysis products were characterized to contain metallic U. Consecutive electrolysis experiments demonstrated up to 74.7% U can be separated from the fluoride melt.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the “Strategic Priority Research Program” of the Chinese Academy of Science (Grant No. XDA02030000), Frontier Science Key Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. QYZDY-SSW-JSC016) and “Young Thousand Talented Program”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiochemistry, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, 201800, China

    Feng Jiang, Wei Huang, Haiyang Zheng, Tiejian Zhu, Changfeng She, Size Gao, Dewu Long, Yu Gong & Qingnuan Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Nuclear Radiation and Nuclear Energy Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, China

    Feng Jiang, Wei Huang, Haiyang Zheng, Tiejian Zhu, Changfeng She, Size Gao, Dewu Long, Yu Gong & Qingnuan Li

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  1. Feng Jiang
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  2. Wei Huang
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Correspondence to Yu Gong.

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Jiang, F., Huang, W., Zheng, H. et al. Electrochemical behavior and electrowinning of uranium(IV) from FLiNaK molten salt. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 311, 1891–1897 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-5160-3

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