The SACSESS hydrometallurgy domain - an overview

The EURATOM FP7 project SACSESS (Safety of Actinide Separation Processes) is in continuity of a long line of preceding EURATOM projects. SACSESS is organised along four domains, one of them related to the development of hydrometallurgical (i.e. solvent extraction based) actinide separations processes. Within this domain, the most promising processes developed in previous projects are further developed, improving their technology readiness level (TRL) towards the point at which safe industrial implementation will be achievable. The SACSESS reference compounds are: TODGA, CyMe₄-BTBP, SO₃-Ph-BTP, HEDTA and DTPA. TODGA is used to co-extract actinides and lanthanides from high-acidity raffinate solutions, separating from the non-lanthanide fission products. TODGA is also used to accelerate the extraction kinetics of CyMe₄-BTBP. CyMe₄-BTBP extracts actinides selectively over lanthanides and many other fission products. HEDTA and DTPA are used to strip actinides selectively over lanthanides from an organic phase containing both actinides and lanthanides. SO₃-Ph-BTP was developed to overcome some of the drawbacks of HEDTA and DTPA, such as the narrow pH window they are effective in