1294
Measurements and Simulations of Lithium Isotopes Concentration Fluxes during Electrolytic Lithium -7 Enrichment

Tuesday, 15 May 2018: 15:00
Room 618 (Washington State Convention Center)
Z. Zhang, P. Sarswat, J. Wallace, and M. L. Free (University of Utah)
Isotopes are utilized in many applications, including physical science analyses, food preservation, archaeology, biology, medicine, pharmaceuticals, national security, and agriculture. The purity is a key requirement for the isotope use. Many different technologies have been used to enrich and separate isotopes. Lithium isotope separation techniques are not very efficient and hence the supply of 7Li is limited. Natural lithium contains a mixture of the two isotopes 6Li and 7Li with abundances of ~ 7.5% and 92.5%, respectively. 7LiOH is often utilized for pH control in pressurized water reactors in the nuclear power industry. The effective separation can be improved to produce purified 7Li or 7Li enriched salt by careful control of diffusion and migration of these isotopes that differ due to their different atomic mass. A systematic study was conducted using computational and experimental techniques for achieving enhanced, environmentally friendly, and reliable 7Li production techniques.