Waste treatment technology for the separation and solidification of radioactive nuclides generated from the pyrochemical process has been intensively studied to achieve the reduction of radioactive waste volume. The present study reports the separation efficiency of group II fission products in LiCl waste salt generated from a electrolytic reduction process through a layer- melt crystallization method using Sr and Ba nuclides as a surrogate material of group II fission products. The concentrated group II nuclides are converted into stable oxide form in consideration of solidification by a conversion/distillation process, where selective oxidation of group II nuclides proceeds by Li2O oxidant and residual salts are removed by a vacuum distillation process. Finally, to immobilize separated group II nuclides, a preliminary solidification study was conducted using SiO2-B2O3-Al2O3 matrix, and high density glass-based waste form was fabricated under 50wt% waste loading of strontium oxide surrogate material. Through the verification of the crystallization, conversion/distillation, and solidification processes, the treatment flow for the separation and solidification of group II fission products in LiCl waste salt has been established.

• Jung-Hoon Choi
• Hee-Chul Eun Corresponding author
• Hwan-Seo Park
• Do-Hee Ahn