| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Special Topics in Nuclear Materials: Lessons Learned; Non-Energy Systems; and Coupled Extremes
|
| Presentation Title |
Modeling Galvanic Drawdown Separations Technique |
| Author(s) |
Garrett Thomas Kemmerly |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Garrett Thomas Kemmerly |
| Abstract Scope |
One of the major issues with the nuclear power industry is the build-up of spent nuclear fuel. To combat this issue, many spent nuclear fuel reprocessing concepts have been proposed. This work seeks to develop a preliminary model of a galvanic drawdown cell for a two-step nuclear fuel separation technique. This model is meant to show controlled separation of pure uranium and a plutonium-uranium mixture and simulate the factors that contribute to the proportions of each of these products that are produced. The Nernst equation, Fick’s Law, and mass balance equation are used with a quasi-equilibrium assumption to generate the equations of the model. Some values were derived empirically from experimental data from Dr. Simpson’s group at the University of Utah. Based on the results, the model has been shown to accurately predict the most significant parameters determining the materials separated over time and shows predictive capabilities for simple geometries. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Recycling and Secondary Recovery, Electrometallurgy |