Future directions for separation science in nuclear and radiochemistry

Solvent extraction and ion exchange have been the most widely used separation techniques in nuclear and radiochemistry since their development in the 1940s. Many successful separations processes based on these techniques have been used for decades in research laboratories, analytical laboratories, and industrial plants. Thus, it is easy to conclude that most of the fundamental and applied research that is needed in these areas has been done, and that further work in these mature fields is unlikely to be fruitful. A more careful review, however, reveals that significant problems remain to be solved, and that there is a demand for the development of new reagents, methods, and systems to solve the increasingly complex separations problems in the nuclear field. Specifically, new separation techniques based on developments in membrane technology and biotechnology that have occurred over the last 20 years should find extensive applications in radiochemical separations