Topical Area; Transmutation and Fuel Cycle, or Nuclear Hydrogen Production Advanced ORIENT Cycle for Strategic Separation, Transmutation and Utilization of Nuclides in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Focusing on Electrochemical Separation and Utilization of RMFP

A novel trinitarian R&D scheme (Advanced ORIENT Cycle) on partitioning, transmutation and utilization of actinides and fission products in the spent nuclear fuel has been proposed to realize ultimate reducing long-term radio toxicity of the radioactive wastes. Actinides (Pu, Am, Cm, etc), MLFP (Sr, Cs) and RMFP (Ru, Rh, Pd, Tc, etc) shall be highly separated and purified to meet well with the forward treatments like nuclide transmutation and/or utilization. Toward the total utilization of RMFP, CEE (catalytic electrolytic extraction) method was innovated to separate them from high-level liquid wastes of the nuclear spent fuel. The CEE, utilizing catalytic effect of Pd2+ vs. RuNO3+, and that of Rh3+ vs. RuNO3+ and ReO4- ions, could effectively separate Ru, Re, Tc as well as Pd from the nitric acid solution. The CEE of Rh3+ and Pd2+ vs. TcO4- were also probably. The RMFP-deposited Pt electrodes showed highly catalytic properties for electrolytic hydrogen production, about twice higher than that of smooth Pt in alkaline and sea waters. The RMFP would be expected to be a “FP-catalyst” to circulate between nuclear and hydrogen / fuel cell energy systems, thereby contributing to save the precious metal resources