Waste , radiotoxic actinide separation

Shukla, J.P. et al., Separation of radiotoxic actinides from reprocessing wastes with liquid membranes, ACS Symposium Series in Chemical Separation with Liquid Membranes, Bartsch, R.A. and Wey, J.D. (Eds.), American Chemical Society, Washington DC, 1996, chapter 27. 

Separation of Radiotoxic Actinides from Reprocessing Wastes with Liquid Membranes... 

This chapter summarizes the applications of LMs, particularly for the separation of radiotoxic actinides and shows their potential in waste treatment and partitioning. For decontamination of the waste solutions which are generated in nuclear facilities, one must seek a process which is both technically efficient in removing the contaminants and also economically attractive for large-scale operation. 

In summary, if a substantial majority of actinides are recycled (which will be necessary for us to tap the majority of the potential energy of uranium and thorium resources), then the waste stream from fission power will consist of a very small volume of fission products along with a small fraction of lost actinides. This waste can be readily immobilized in an insoluble material, such as borosilicate glass. The efficiency of actinide-separation technology will determine whether this waste inventory will decay to ore-level radiotoxicity in hundreds of years or thousands of years. Thus, improvements in separation technology may have a significant impact on the waste-isolation time and on public acceptance of fission power. 

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