Recent progresses in actinide partitioning at ITU

Full text follows: The key issues in partitioning for transmutation purposes are the selective recovery of actinides (An). In particular the separation of minor actinides (MA) such as Am and Cm, from lanthanides (Ln) is a difficult and delicate problem. At ITU, this separation is being investigated by aqueous and pyrochemical reprocessing techniques. MA recovery from genuine fuel solutions has been demonstrated by advanced aqueous reprocessing in the so-called DIAMEX-SANEX concept. Pyrochemical studies have concentrated on the recovery of MA by electrolysis onto solid and liquid cathodes in molten chloride salts. Demonstration tests starting from genuine fuel have been conducted. In order to allow in the future a pyro-process at industrial scale, development of safeguarding techniques are under development. This paper describes the progresses achieved recently in MA partitioning research at ITU. (authors)