Thermodynamic investigation on the behavior of rare earth oxides during electrolytic reduction process

A quantitative analysis on the behavior of rare earth (RE) oxides during the electrolytic reduction process was conducted through thermodynamic calculations. The calculation results can identify the oxide form of RE elements as RE2O3 including Ce and Pr, and provide a quantitative explanation on the slow reduction of RE oxides, compared to UO2, as observed in previous experiments. The concept of the effective salt amount was also introduced to verify the impact of metallic lithium on nearby salt.