Electrochemical behavior of simulated debris from a severe accident using a molten salt system

In a severe nuclear accident, the fuel in the reactor may melt, forming debris, which contains a UO{sub 2}-ZrO{sub 2} stable oxide mixture and parts of the reactor, such as Zircaloy and iron components. Proper handling of the debris is a critically important issue. The debris does not have the same composition as spent fuel, and so it is impossible to apply conventional reprocessing technology directly. In this study, we successfully separated Zr and Fe from simulated debris using NaCl-KCl molten salt electrolysis, and we selectively recovered the Zr and Fe. The simulated debris was made from Zr, Fe, and CeO{sub 2}. The CeO{sub 2} was used for simulating stable UO{sub 2}-ZrO{sub 2}. With this approach, it should be possible to reduce the volume of the debris by recovering metals, which can then be treated as low level radioactive wastes.