Research of oxygen-conducting ceramic materials for lithium chloride melt in reactors for pyrochemical processing of spent nuclear fuel

Abstract

The behavior of potential ceramic materials (electrolytes conducting on oxygen ions) of electrochemical control devices of technological operations in oxide-halide melts was investigated. Based on the literature data and thermodynamic estimates for long-term tests in the LiCl, LiCl-Li2O and LiCl-Li2O-Li melts at a temperature of 650 ° C, mixtures of oxides ZrO2- Y2O3(YSZ), ZrO2-Sc2O3(ScSZ), ZrO2-CaO (CaSZ) and CeO2-Gd2O3(CGO) were selected. These melt under the studies are the most widely used in a number of high-temperature electrochemical processes of obtaining metals and alloys, as well as in the developed schemes of pyrochemical processing of nuclear fuel. The stability of the samples was determined by changes in mass, appearance, elemental analysis of the melt, as well as via the scanning electron microscopy. The best stability in LiCl-Li2O melts was shown by the samples of ZrO2-Y2O3with cubic and tetragonal structures and the samples of ZrO2-CaO. Based on the changes in the microstructure of the samples, it was concluded that the increase in the content of Li2O in the LiCl-Li2O melt accelerates the destruction of the sample mainly by the mechanism of dyeing, and the presence of lithium leads to loosening of the samples. © 2020 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.