Radionuclide separations in the nuclear fuel cycle development and application of micro and meso porous inorganic ion-exchangers

Full text: Full text: From the mining of uranium-containing ores to the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, separations technologies play a crucial role in determining the efficiency and viability of the nuclear fuel cycle. With respect to proposed Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles (ANFC), the integral role of separations is no different with solvent extraction and pyroelectrometalurgical processing dominating efforts to develop a sustainable and publicly acceptable roadmap for nuclear power in the next 100 years. An often forgotten or overlooked separation technology is ion-exchange, more specifically, inorganic ion-exchangers. This is despite the fact that these materials offer the potential advantages of process simplicity; exceptional selectivity against high background concentrations of competing ions; and the possibility of a simple immobilization route for the separated radionculides. ANSTO's principal interest in inorganic ion-exchange materials in recent years has been the development of an inorganic ion-exchanger for the pretreatment of acidic legacy 9 Mo production waste to simultaneously remove radiogenic cesium and strontium. Radiogenic cesium and strontium comprise the majority of activity in such waste and may offer increased ease in the downstream processing to immobilise this waste in a Synroc wasteform. With the reliance on separations technologies in all current ANFC concepts, and the recent admission of ANSTO to the European Commissions EUROPART project, the development of new inorganic ion-exchangers has also expanded within our group. This presentation will provide a background of the fundamentals of inorganic and composite inorganic-organic ion-exchange materials followed by specific discussion of some selected inorganic and composite ion-exchange materials being developed and studied at ANSTO. The detailed structural and ion-exchange chemistry of these materials will be discussed and note made of how such materials could benefit any of the current ANFC concepts. Additionally, strategies for the immobilization of the 'spent' ion-exchange materials will be highlighted