Transport of Cadmium through Molten Salt to Argon Cover Gas in Electrorefiner

K.Revathy[1], S. Agarwal[1], B. Muralidharan[1], G. Padmakumar[1], K. K. Rajan[1]
[1]Fast Reactor Technology Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, India
Published in 2013

Electro refining is one of the important step in the Pyro processing nuclear spent fuel with molten salt. The electro refiner is a process vessel consists of anode ,cathodes and stirrers and ultra –high pure argon gas is provided at the top for inert atmosphere and at the bottom a cadmium layer is provided. The vapor pressure of the cadmium is high at the operating temperature, the cadmium vapor transport through the molten salt and argon cover gas at the top of the electro refiner which leads to the choking of components /mechanism. An axi-symmetric, 2-dimensional mathematical model in COMSOL Multiphysics® has been developed to study the transport of cadmium vapor through the salt solution and in argon gas.