METHOD FOR REDUCING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL WITH SALT-FLOW TYPE AND SYSTEM FOR REDUCING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL WITH SALT-FLOW TYPE

摘要

The present invention provides a salt flow type spent nuclear fuel reduction method and reduction system therefor, which can simplify an electrolytic reduction process through salt flow method to perform reduction of a large-capacity spent nuclear fuel oxide. According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a spent nuclear fuel reduction method which applies a salt flow method to consecutively perform a reduction process, and a reduction system therefor. An existing located type electrolytic reduction system has an issue which reduces a reduction rate due to occurrence of re-oxidation reaction (U + Li_2_O → UO_2+ Li) since Li_2_O is always included in salt after reduction is finished but a salt flow type reduction method and a reduction system according to the present invention are advantageous in that re-oxidation issue occurring in a distillation process is not a problem anymore since every generated Li_2_O is removed by salt flow. In addition, since the present invention can perform a spent nuclear fuel reduction process with devices with simple structures, it is advantageous to increase capacity compared with the existing electrolytic reduction process, and in particular, improvement of operation and life in hot cell environment can be increased. Also, economical efficiency of pyroprocessing can be enhanced by implementing operation time reduction through consecutive operation and economies of scale through introduction of a large system. The reduction system of the present invention includes a spent nuclear fuel reduction apparatus, a lithium manufacturing apparatus, and a salt storage.