Multi-Species Hydrodynamic Electrochemical Modeling with Liquid Metal and Rotating Cylinder Electrodes in Molten Salt

The accurate prediction of a hydrodynamic electrochemical system with radioactive materials can reduce the economic costs and radiological risk of repeated experiments. Such a prediction requires the computationally rich coupling of hydrodynamic phenomena and electrochemical reactions at a multi-dimensional domain, especially for multiple species in heterogeneous phases. This study develops a finite element method model to simulate the transport phenomena and electrochemical reactions of U, Pu, and Nd simultaneously in a molten salt metallurgical electrorefining system. The results are validated against lab-scale experimental data conducted in high temperature LiCl-KCl molten salt. The experiment conducted in the Argonne National Laboratory has a unique electrochemical cell with a combination of liquid metal and rotating solid cylinder electrodes. The model successfully simulates the tim…