Removal of fission products in the spent electrolyte using iron phosphate glass as a sorbent

Amamoto, Ippei; Mitamura, Naoki*; Tsuzuki, Tatsuya*; Takasaki, Yasushi*; Shibayama, Atsushi*; Yano, Tetsuji*; Nakada, Masami  ; Okamoto, Yoshihiro  

The main objective of this development is to recycle the purified eutectic medium of the pyroreprocessing, delaying its disposal for as long as possible. We have introduced the simple filtration method to remove the rare earth element (REE) particles which were formed due to the conversion of REE chlorides to phosphates. Here, the iron phosphate glass is used as a filtration medium for the removal of FP particles. However, some soluble FP such as compounds of alkali-metals, alkaline-earth metals, etc. still remain in the eutectic medium. This time around, on an experimental basis, the iron phosphate glass has been used as a sorbent instead, to remove the soluble FP. We have obtained some positive results and have intention to incorporate it into the spent electrolyte recycle process as a part of the FP separation and immobilization system.