Treatment of molten salt reprocessing wastes
AssigneeBritish Nuclear Fuels plc
InventorsMark Fields, Robert Charles Thied, Kenneth Richard Seddon, William Robert Pitner, David William Rooney
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Abstract
A method of removing from a metal salt ionic species contained therein involves contacting the metal salt with an ionic liquid to dissolve the metal salt, the ionic species or both. At least in the case where both the metal salt and the ionic species are dissolved, the resultant ionic liquid composition is treated to separate the ionic species therefrom and subsequently processed to recover the metal salt.
Claims19
A method of removing ionic species from a metal salt, which method comprises contacting the metal salt with an ionic liquid to dissolve the metal salt, the ionic species or both, thereby to form a resultant ionic liquid composition and separating or recovering the metal salt from the ionic liquid composition, and optionally, when both the metal salt and the ionic species are dissolved, said ionic liquid composition is treated to separate the ionic species therefrom before recovering the metal salt.
A method of claim 14 which comprises dissolving said metal halide residue in acidic 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride-AlCl3 or another acidic ionic liquid.
A method for removing radioactive contaminants from an alkali metal halide composition used in the reprocessing of nuclear fuel, comprising:
- (i) dissolving in an ionic liquid said contaminants to obtain an ionic liquid solution;
- (ii) separating said contaminants from the solution by precipitation or electrochemical reduction;
- (iii) then optionally removing contaminants remaining in the solution by ion exchange;
- and
- (iv) recovering the alkali metal halide composition from the solution and, if necessary, adjusting its composition to the eutectic.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.