REPROCESSING METHOD AND DEVICE OF SPENT OXIDE FUEL

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To collect a fuel component in which impurities of a noble metal element and a rare earth element do not mix by incorporating a process for separating uranium oxide and noble metal deposited in eutectoid with simultaneous electrolysis by the contact or the like of molten metal. SOLUTION: After fuel rods 50 including spent oxide fuel produced from a nuclear power plant is sheared and their coatings are removed, they are charged into molten salt making a component of NaCl or the like. Next, in a simultaneous electrolysis process 4, simultaneous electrolysis, in which an oxide fuel itself is made an anode and a solid electrode immersed in the molten salt is made a cathode, is performed, and uranium oxide and noble metal in the spent oxide fuel is melted in the molten salt to be deposited in eutectoid on the cathode. Granular uranium oxide and noble metal peeled and collected from the surface of the cathode, for instance, are treated by a molten zinc contact process 5 to collect uranium oxide deposited on the surface of molten zinc. It is substituted for the molten zinc contact process 5, also used in a refining method by electrolysis, and molten zinc may be used as the cathode in the simultaneous electrolysis process 4.