Research on the Application of Pulsed High Voltage Electric Field to Breaking Hard Rock Uranium Ore

摘要

Uranium is the most basic material for the operation of nuclear power plants. Research on methods for extracting uranium efficiently and pollution-free is one of the hot issues in nuclear energy development. In nature, uranium is abundant in hard rock, but it is often wraped by volcanic rock. The traditional method of extracting uranium mainly uses heap leaching or in-situ leaching, but acid solution cannot enter the hard rock to extract uranium. In this paper, a highvoltage pulse power supply is designed with hydrogen thyristor as the switching device. The maximum output amplitude is 30 kV, the frequency is 1 Hz-1 kHz, and the pulse width is adjustable between 0-5μs. The influence of parameters such as the composition of uranium ore, the particle size of the ore, and the distance of the discharge electrode on the characteristics of the discharge electric field was simulated by COMSOL Multiphysics software, and the influence of the electric field intensity and its distribution relationship were obtained. Finally, the designed high-voltage pulsed power supply is applied to discharge the underwater volcanic rock. The results show that the discharge cannot significantly break the ore, but it can significantly reduce the mechanical strength of the ore and increase the porosity. The overall metal content in the composition of uranium ore determines the crushing effect mainly, and the electrode distance and particle size also affect the breakdown time and breakdown voltage. This method can also provide reference for other similar mineral processing.