Promising Lipophilic PyTri Extractant for Selective Trivalent Actinide Separation from High Active Raffinate

Within a spent nuclear fuel recycling strategy, in thepast few years, the pyridine-bis-triazole unit was found to be rathereffective and selective in minor actinide (MA) separation fromsynthetic high active raffinate (HAR). In this research work, themain features of the recently studiedPTEHligand wereinvestigated in order to evaluate its potentialities in SANEX-likeprocesses. Its applicability in advanced separation processes wasdemonstrated, even at process temperatures. It manifestedsatisfactory extraction properties for a successful selective Anseparation from Ln, easy cation release, and adequate extractionkinetics as well as outstanding hydrolytical and radiolytical stability.All the results collected in this work allowed the scientists on thecommittee of the H2020 GENIORS project to promotePTEHasa concrete alternative to the reference CyMe4-BTBP ligand.

Automated summary

The pyridine-bis-triazole unit has been found to be effective and selective in the separation of minor actinides from synthetic high active raffinate. This study investigates the main features of the PTEH ligand and demonstrates its applicability in advanced separation processes, even at higher temperatures. The results show satisfactory extraction properties, successful selective separation of actinides, easy cation release, and adequate extraction kinetics, as well as outstanding hydrolytical and radiolytical stability.