Division/Committee: [I&EC: Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry] [NUCL: Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology]

Determining and understanding chemical speciation in waste brines still represents a grand challenge that impacts our ability to properly handle radioactive waste and recover valuable resources. Variations in pH and ionizing radiation results in unexpected changes in the chemical profile of these complex environments and affects f-element chemical properties and speciation. The used nuclear fuel composition depends on the initial composition of the fuel, burnup, aging, and the nuclear reactor type. Most commonly, uranium or plutonium oxides with additional metals were used, but fission and ?, ? and ? radiation events have radically changed the initial composition. Interim storage of these used fuels includes containers or geologic storage which further complicate their chemical profile with side reactions, transport and formation of new phases and interfaces. This symposium aims to bring together experts from the fields of radiochemistry, characterization and theoretical methods dedicated to the study of these intriguing chemical transformations though theory and experimental techniques that probe multiple length and time scales. Advances in experimental methods, computer architectures and algorithms provide us with unique opportunities to study these chemical changes in detail. Machine learning and data science have emerged as a versatile avenue of bridging computations with experiments of varying fidelity and resolution to predict and understand complex and dynamically evolving systems. The symposium will gather scientists in their early, intermediate and senior levels from academia, national laboratories and industry to discuss the research opportunities that influence and control our ability to study f-elements in complex reactive environments. We will seek presentations on how to study, predict and understand electronic structure, coordination, solvation/dissolution/aggregation, transport and dynamic behavior of f-elements and how we can enhance their stability for efficient remediation or separation. With the renewed interest in nuclear energy as one of the greenest energy sources, we will also solicit presentations from researchers and agencies that focus of the deployment of modern molten salt reactors.

Roger Rousseau

Lab Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Appearances