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Thermodynamic properties of actinides and rare earth fission products in liquid cadmium

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Abstract

Liquid cadmium has been applied as a liquid solvent or a liquid cathode in pyroprocessing to separate actinides from used fuels or high level radioactive nuclear wastes. The thermodynamic properties, such as the element solubility, the stable metallic compounds, the activity coefficients, and the diffusion coefficients, of actinides and rare earth fission products in liquid Cd determine or strongly affect the separation performance of pyroprocessing. In the present article, the existing experimental data of these properties are critically reviewed and analyzed. Considering the liquid cadmium applications in pyroprocessing, the present article focuses on the properties in the Cd-rich region.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been performed using funding received from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Programs (Project 13-4908).

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  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jinsuo Zhang, Erik A. Lahti & Wentao Zhou

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  1. Jinsuo Zhang
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  2. Erik A. Lahti
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Correspondence to Jinsuo Zhang.

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Zhang, J., Lahti, E.A. & Zhou, W. Thermodynamic properties of actinides and rare earth fission products in liquid cadmium. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 303, 1637–1648 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3827-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3827-1

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