Molten salt consisting primarily of eutectic LiCl-KCl is currently being used in electrorefiners in the Fuel Conditioning Facility at Idaho National Laboratory. Options are currently being evaluated for storing this salt outside of the argon atmosphere hot cell. The hygroscopic nature of eutectic LiCl-KCl makes is susceptible to deliquescence in air followed by extreme corrosion of metallic cannisters. In this study, the effect of occluding the salt into a zeolite on water sorption/desorption was tested. Two zeolites were investigated: Na-Y and zeolite 4A. Na-Y was ineffective at occluding a high percentage of the salt at either 10 or 20wt% loading. Zeolite-4A was effective at occluding the salt with high efficiency at both loading levels. Weight gain in salt occluded zeolite-4A (SOZ) from water sorption at 20% relative humidity and 40℃ was 17wt% for 10% SOZ and 10wt% for 20% SOZ. In both cases, neither deliquescence nor corrosion occurred over a period of 31 days. After hydration, most of the water could be driven off by heating the hydrated salt occluded zeolite to 530℃. However, some HCl forms during dehydration due to salt hydrolysis. Over a wide range of temperatures (320–700℃) and ramp rates (5, 10, and 20℃ min−1), HCl formation was no more than 0.6% of the Cl− in the original salt.

Densities of molten salt mixtures of eutectic LiCl-KCl with UCl3, CeCl3, or LaCl3 at various concentrations (up to 13 wt%) were measured using a liquid surface displacement probe. Linear relationships between the mixture density and the concentration of the added salt were observed. For LaCl3 and CeCl3, the measured densities were significantly higher than those previously reported from Archimedes’ method. In the case of LiCl-KCl-UCl3, the data fit the ideal mixture density model very well. For the other salts, the measured densities exceeded the ideal model prediction by about 2%.

EBR-II사용후핵연료의 파이로건식처리공정에 의해 발생된 우라늄의 순도에 대한 포괄적인 분석을 수행하였다. 분석결과를 미국 아이다호 국립연구소 및 한국원자력연구원의 협력과제 하에서 한국과 미국의 저준위 폐기물 기준으로 비교하였다. 미국의 저준위 폐기물 기준은 우라늄 동위원소를 포함하지 않으나, 한국의 경우는 포함하는 것으로 조사되었다. 분석결과 EBR-II 우라늄 생성물 내에서 저준위 기준을 초과하는 유일한 알파 핵종은 우라늄 동위원소가 아니라 Pu-239였다. 생성물 내의 Pu 오염은 개량된 염증류공정을 통한 예비실험 결과 획기적으로 줄일 수 있음을 알 수 있었으며, 보다 공정을 개선 시킨다면 제안된 기술을 이용하여 미국의 저준위 기준을 만족시킬 수 있을 것으로 판단된다