RT Journal Article ID 1236afdc22913c06 A1 Suzuki, Masaaki A1 Ichihashi, Takeshi A1 Jote, Arata A1 Nishio, Shigeru A1 Kawagoe, Shinji T1 APPLICATION OF REACTIVE PLASMA TO NUCLEAR WASTE TREATMENT - POSSIBILITY OF SEPARATION PROCESS OF ZR-NB ALLOY BY REACTIVE THERMAL PLASMA TREATMENT JF High Temperature Material Processes: An International Quarterly of High-Technology Plasma Processes JO HTM YR 2003 FD 2003-12-01 VO 7 IS 4 SP 475 OP 485 AB Applications of thermal plasmas in the nuclear engineering field are reviewed, and as an application example of a reactive thermal plasma treatment, the possibility of separation of zirconium-niobium alloy is reported. Some experiments, which use a thermal fluorine plasma have been carried out and the following results have been obtained. When the process takes place above the melting point of this alloy, Zr is extracted successfully in the evaporated fine particles and Nb is enriched in the bulk alloy. This phenomenon can be explained well by using Gibbs free energy of fluorine reactions. For a better separation, a higher temperature of the sample and a more effective mass transfer of Nb in the melting alloy is required. The results confirm the possibility of this separation method. PB Begell House LK https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/57d172397126f956,199003e25b68b21b,1236afdc22913c06.html