Electrolytic and ozone aided destruction of oxalate ions in plutonium oxalate supernatant of the PUREX process: A comparative study

The article describes an efficient and straight forward method for the destruction of oxalate ions in the plutonium oxalate supernatant stream generated during the reprocessing of FBTR spent fuel, using ozone and electrolysis without any redox intermediates/catalyst at room temperature. The influencing parameters such as concentration of nitric acid, current density and temperature were studied. The destruction was achieved in 4 and 4.5 h, respectively using ozone and electrolysis. These methods have significant advantages due to the chemically benign nature of the oxalate destructed stream for all the downstream fuel cycle processes and the feasibility to automate these process steps in a radiochemical plant.