Cesium Recovery from the Spent Nuclear Fuel of BOR-60 Research Nuclear Reactor

Based on the results of studying the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from BOR-60 fast research reactor, a flowsheet was suggested for the fuel pretreatment prior to extractive partitioning of the elements. The flowsheet involves joint fusion of SNF with molybdenum trioxide, washing of the fusion cake with an alkali solution to remove the alkali metal fraction, and subsequent dissolution of fissile materials and fission products in nitric acid. An experiment with SNF from the fast reactor demonstrated the possibility of separating up to 99.0 ± 0.1% of cesium radionuclides from the fuel prior to extractive reprocessing in accordance with the suggested flowsheet. In so doing, about 90% of molybdenum can be recovered from the alkali fraction and returned to the production cycle.