Electrolytic Recycling of a Carbonate Salt in a Process With a Dissolution of Spent Nuclear Fuel in a Strong Alkaline Carbonate Media

A removal of only uranium from spent nuclear fuel with the concepts of a high proliferation-resistance and a minimal generation of waste is helpful for a spent fuel management in view of a volume reduction of the high level radioactive waste generated from the spent fuel treatment. That can be accomplished by a process using a selective oxidative dissolution of the spent fuel in a carbonate solution of high alkalinity. In this work, an electrolytic method for a decarbonation and a recovery of CO₂ for recycling the used carbonate solution contaminated with some impurity metal ions generated in such a process with a concept of zero-release of waste solution was studied. A carbonate solution generated from such a system was confirmed to be completely recycled within the system, while the impurity ions being separated from the carbonate solution.