Inclusion behavior of Cs, Sr, and Ba impurities in LiCl crystal formed by layer-melt crystallization: Combined first-principles calculation and experimental study

The pyroprocessing which uses a dry method to recycle spent oxide fuel generates a waste LiCl salt containing radioactive elements. To reuse LiCl salt, the radioactive impurities has to be separated by the purification process such as layer-melt crystallization. To enhance impurity separation efficiency, it is important to understand the inclusion mechanism of impurities within the LiCl crystal. Herein, we report the inclusion properties of impurities in LiCl crystals. First of all, the substitution enthalpies of Cs+, Sr2+, and Ba2+ impurities with 0–6at% in LiCl crystal were evaluated via first-principles calculations. Also, the molten LiCl containing 1mol of Cs+, Sr2+, and Ba2+ impurities was crystallized through the experimental layer-melt crystallization method. These substitution enthalpy and experiment clarify that a high substitution enthalpy should result in the high separation efficiency for an impurity. Furthermore, we find that the electron density map gives a clue to the mechanism for inclusion of impurities into LiCl crystal. ► Impurity ions were separated from waste LiCl salt by layer-melt crystallization. ► Impurity substitution enthalpy was calculated by first-principles calculation. ► It is found that a large substitution enthalpy results in high separation efficiency.