Europart: European Research programme for partitioning of minor actinides within high active wastes issuing from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels

The radiotoxicity of the vitrified nuclear wastes issuing from the reprocessing of nuclear spent fuels is mainly due to the presence of minor actinides (MAs = Np, Am and Cm) in these wastes. To simplify the definition of a deep underground repository, the elimination of MAs from the wastes followed by their destruction by transmutation is a positive strategy (P and T strategy). The European Integrated Project (IP) EUROPART concerns the definition of partitioning methods for the elimination of MAs from the wastes. Two chemical domains were selected for the research: i) hydrometallurgy, ii) pyrometallurgy. The research work is organised into 9 Work Packages (WP): 5 for hydrometallurgy and 4 for pyrometallurgy. The partnership involved in the research comprises 23 partners from 10 European countries, 1 the EC-JRC-ITU, 1 partner from Japan and 1 partner from Australia. This paper will present: i) the WPs, ii) some recent results related to the WPs, iii) the partnership and the organisation of the IP. (authors)