The evaporation characteristics of LiCl–KCl eutectic salt from uranium deposits using batch type vacuum distiller with temperature slope of each zones

Recovered salt can be reused in the electrorefining process and the final removed salt from uranium (U) deposits can be fed into a following U casting process to prepare ingot. Therefore, salt distillation process is very important to increase the throughput of the salt separation system due to the high U content of spent nuclear fuel and high salt fraction of U dendrites. Yields on salt recovered by a batch type vacuum distiller transfer device were processed for obtaining pure eutectic salt and U. In this study, the influence of the various temperature slopes of each zones on salt evaporation and recovery rate are discussed. From the experimental results, the optimal temperature of each zones appear at the Top Zone and Zone 1 is 850 °C, Zone 2 is 650 °C and Zone 3 is 600 °C, respectively. In these conditions, the complete evaporation of pure salt in 1.4 h occurred and the amount of recovered salt was about 99 wt%. The adhered salt in U deposits was separated by a temperature slope zone of salt distillation equipment. From the experimental results using U deposits, the amount of salt evaporation was achieved more than 99 wt% and the salt evaporation rate was about 1.16 g/min. Also, the mount of recovered salt was about 99.5 wt%.