Vacuum Evaporation of KCl-NaCl Salts: Part Ⅰ. Thermodynamic Modeling of Vapor Pressures of Solid and Liquid Solutions

摘要

Pyrochemical methods which are routinely carried out for processing plutonium commonly use chloride salts as their processing media. In electrorefining to purify plutonium scraps and alloys, typically an equal molar KCl-NaCl mixture is used as the molten electrolyte through which the oxidized Pu ions are transported to the cathode where the pure plutonium is produced and settles by gravity to the bottom of the molten salt. In molten salt extraction, molten KCl-NaCl salt or KCl-NaCl salt containing MgCl_2 is used to extract Am from molten Pu. Americium is a decay product of ~(241)Pu and emits high energy gamma radiation. It is removed to reduce radiation exposure to workers handling Pu.