The growth in the world’s nuclear industry, motivated by peaking world oil supplies, concerns about the greenhouse effect, and domestic needs for energy independence, has resulted in a heightened focus on the need for next-generation nuclear fuel-cycle technologies. Ion Exchange and Solvent Extraction: A Series of Advances, Volume 19 provides a comprehensive look at the state of the science underlying solvent extraction in its role as the most powerful separation technique for the reprocessing of commercial spent nuclear fuel.

Capturing the current technology and scientific progress as it exists today and looking ahead to potential developments, the book examines the overall state of solvent extraction in reprocessing, new molecules for increased selectivity and performance, methods for predicting extractant properties, and actinide-lanthanide group separation. The contributors also explore the simultaneous extraction of radionuclides by mixing extractants, the cause and nature of third-phase formation, the effects of radiation on the solvent and its performance, analytical techniques for measuring process concentrations, new centrifugal contactors for more efficient processing, and new chemistry using novel media.

The long-term vision of many professionals in the field entails a proliferation-free nuclear energy economy in which little or no waste is stored or released into the environment and all potential energy values in spent nuclear fuel are recycled. This text opens a window on that possibility, offering insight from world leaders on the cutting edge of nuclear research.