ABSTRACT
Large-scale radiochemical separation technology was developed in the United States during World War II, as part of the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons for military applications. The purpose of these chemical processes was to separate plutonium from uranium and from fission products in the irradiated uranium. This chapter briefly reviews separation techniques either in use or proposed for defense and power reactor wastes, and for partitioning or transmutation processes. Ion-exchange processes have been successful in the past for the separations of individual rare-earth and transuranic elements. Highly selective organic ion-exchange resins have been developed and show potential in removal of particular radionuclides. Membrane processes such as dialysis, ultrafiltration, and facilitated transport have been proposed as techniques to separate the bulk salt from the radioactive components. Molten-salt and molten-metal systems are among the pyroprocesses under extensive investigation as possible technologies to treat spent fuel from the Integral Fast Reactor, molten-salt breeder reactors, and light water reactors.
