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Electrochemical separation of uranium from dysprosium on liquid Ga and liquid Cd electrodes in molten LiCl–KCl–CsCl eutectic at recycling of high-level waste

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Abstract

The equilibrium potentials of Me(III)/Me (Me = Dy, U) couples and the double Me–Ga, Me–Cd alloys vs. Cl−/Cl2 reference electrode were measured at the temperature range 673–973 K in molten LiCl–KCl–CsCl eutectic by open-circuit potentiometry. The apparent standard potential and the base thermodynamic properties of alloys were determined. Separation factor for Dy/U couple was calculated on gallium and cadmium electrodes. In addition, it was found that the application of gallium electrodes has a significant advantage over cadmium electrodes in the process of electrochemical separation of uranium and dysprosium.

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Acknowledgements

The study was carried out with the financial support of the Sino-Russian Cooperation Fund of Harbin Engineering University (No. 2021HEUCRF004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of High-Temperature Electrochemistry UB RAS, Ekaterinburg, Russia, 620990

    Valeri Smolenski & Alena Novoselova

  2. Department of Rare Metals and Nanomaterials, Institute of Physics and Technology, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russia, 620002

    Valeri Smolenski & Alena Novoselova

  3. Yantai Research Institute and Graduate School, Harbin Engineering University, Yantai, 264006, China

    Yongde Yan, Yun Xue & Fuqiu Ma

  4. College of Science, Heihe University, Heihe, 164300, Heilongjiang, China

    Yongde Yan

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  1. Valeri Smolenski
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Correspondence to Alena Novoselova.

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Smolenski, V., Novoselova, A., Yan, Y. et al. Electrochemical separation of uranium from dysprosium on liquid Ga and liquid Cd electrodes in molten LiCl–KCl–CsCl eutectic at recycling of high-level waste. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 5641–5648 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08593-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08593-7

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