A new method of processing nuclear waste, discovered at Moscow State University, will make it possible to extract more uranium-235 from them. This was reported by the press service of Moscow State University.
With proper design and proper operation, nuclear power plants are a very safe and environmentally friendly source of energy. The only unresolved problem is nuclear fuel waste, which can be discarded or reprocessed to produce new nuclear fuel. The most popular is the PUREX processing technology, which involves the extraction of substances using a series of redox reactions. However, this process has serious drawbacks because along with uranium and plutonium, other unnecessary components also go through this cycle.
Moscow State University scientists have proposed a new extractor for the GANEX process, a less popular alternative to PUREX. In the first step, uranium is selectively removed from the fuel and then minor actinides are removed from the nitric acid solution of SNF. In order for these reactions to be efficient, high-capacity selective extraction agents must be selected.
A compound based on phenanthroline, a nitrogen-containing polycyclic compound, can act as such an extractant. The authors experimented with a solution containing a technological concentration of uranium (1 mol/l) and revealed a new property of the resulting uranium complex: “We discovered an interesting fact – such compounds can each “capture” macro quantities of uranium. “It has the ability to add units of uranium. One of the uranium particles is in the cationic (positively charged) part of the complex and the other is in the anionic (negatively charged) part of the complex. This does not happen at lower uranium concentrations in model samples, and none of the scientific groups have observed such an effect before.” people.
During further research, the authors hope to identify other extractants that can “absorb” large amounts of uranium-235 from the fuel. In the future, this will make it possible to extract almost all radioactive uranium from nuclear waste, which will protect the ore and make the buried residue safe.
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