Nuclear and Environmental Processes
For more than sixty years Argonne National Laboratory has been a world leader
in the development of nuclear technologies. The Chemical Sciences and
Engineering Division and its predecessors have had an important role in these
developments, advancing the science of actinide chemistry and innovating
solutions for the “back end” of the nuclear fuel cycle. Today our researchers
are at the forefront in the development of technologies for nuclear separations,
waste management, and non-proliferation to achieve sustainable nuclear energy.
Programs in our nuclear and environmental processes thrust are organized into
four areas.
Basic science research of heavy element and fission product atomic and
molecular-scale chemistry with focus on actinide aggregation in solution and
precipitates, metal-ligand interactions, and electronic properties. Researchers
are using novel instruments at the Advanced Photon Source to elucidate the
electronic structure and magnetic properties of actinide nanoclusters, providing
new insights into their behavior in separations processes and their migration in
the environment. In related studies, they are designing, synthesizing, and
characterizing chelating agents for metals separations and recovery.
Basic science research of minera/water interactions to advance the
fundamental understanding of geochemical processes important to predicting the
performance of geological repositories. Researchers are deploying advanced
in-situ spectroscopy and imaging techniques to explore mineral surface
hydration, ion adsorption structures, and mineral growth and dissolution
processes.
Application of integrated expertise in chemical engineering and actinide
chemistry to develop, model, design, and demonstrate solvent extraction
processes for spent fuel and radioactive waste treatment, and nuclear
nonproliferation. For the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Fuel Cycle
Initiative, researchers invented, demonstrated, and continue to develop the
UREX+ suite of multistage solvent extraction process for selective recovery of
fission products in spent fuel. For the DOE’s Reduced Enrichment for Research
and Test Reactors program, researchers are developing the separation
technologies required to produce the medical isotope molybdenum-99 from
low-enriched uranium targets.
Application of multidisciplinary expertise to innovate, develop, and engineer
commercially viable electrochemical processes for nuclear separations.
Researchers are developing novel processes for the recovery of actinides and
stabilization of fission products from metal, oxide, carbide, nitride, and other
advanced nuclear reactor fuels. Recent inventions include high-throughput
uranium electrorefining and electrolytic oxide reduction.
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