This Critical Review reviews the origin and chemical and rheological complexity of radioactive waste at the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site. The waste, stored in underground tanks, was generated via three distinct processes over decades of plutonium extraction operations. Although close records were kept of original waste disposition, tank-to-tank transfers and conditions that impede equilibrium complicate our understanding of the chemistry, phase composition, and rheology of the waste. Tank waste slurries comprise particles and aggregates from nano to micro scales, with varying densities, morphologies, heterogeneous compositions, and complicated responses to flow regimes and process conditions. Further, remnant or changing radiation fields may affect the stability and rheology of the waste. These conditions pose challenges for transport through conduits or pipes to treatment plants for vitrification. Additionally, recalcitrant boehmite degrades glass quality and the high aluminum content must be reduced prior to vitrification for the manufacture of waste glass of acceptable durability. However, caustic leaching indicates that boehmite dissolves much more slowly than predicted given surface normalized rates. Existing empirical models based on ex situ experiments and observations generally only describe material balances and have not effectively predicted process performance. Recent advances in the areas of in situ microscopy, aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, theoretical modeling across scales, and experimental methods for probing the physics and chemistry at mineral-fluid and mineral-mineral interfaces are being implemented to build robustly predictive physics-based models.

Separation of the minor actinides (Am, Cm) from the lanthanides at an industrial scale remains a significant technical challenge for closing the nuclear fuel cycle. To increase the safety of used nuclear fuel (UNF) reprocessing, as well as reduce associated costs, a novel solvent extraction process has been developed. The process allows for partitioning minor actinides, lanthanides, and fission products following uranium/plutonium/neptunium removal, minimizing the number of separation steps, flowsheets, chemical consumption, and waste. This new process, actinide lanthanide separation (ALSEP), uses an organic solvent consisting of a neutral diglycolamide extractant, either N,N,N′,N′-tetra(2-ethylhexyl)diglycolamide (T2EHDGA) or N,N,N′,N′-tetraoctyldiglycolamide (TODGA), and an acidic extractant 2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (HEH[EHP]), dissolved in an aliphatic diluent (e.g., n-dodecane). The An/Ln coextraction is conducted from moderate-to-strong nitric acid, while the selective stripping of the minor actinides from the lanthanides is carried out using a polyaminocarboxylic acid/citrate buffered solution at pH anywhere between 3 and 4.5. The extraction and separation of the actinides from the fission products is very effective in a wide range of HNO3 concentrations, and the minimum separation factors for lanthanide/Am exceed 30 for Nd/Am, reaching >60 for Eu/Am under some conditions. The experimental results presented here demonstrate the great potential for a combined system, consisting of a neutral extractant such as T2EHDGA or TODGA, and an acidic extractant such as HEH[EHP], for separating the minor actinides from the lanthanides.

Evaluation of the malonamide substructure with respect to binding site preorganization and complementarity for lanthanide metal ions suggests a new ligand architecture specifically designed to enhance lanthanide ion affinity. Consideration of conformational reorganization, restricted bond rotation, and donor group orientation suggests that typical malonamide structures, for example, N,N,N'N'-tetrahexylpropane-1,3-diamide (1), N,N'-dibutyl-N,N'-dimethyl-2-tetradecylpropane-1,3-diamide (2), or N,N,N'N'-tetramethylpropane-1,3-diamide (6), are poorly organized for metal ion complexation. Molecular mechanics analyses show that the unfavorable enthalpic and entropic terms are eliminated by the use of the novel bicyclic architecture found in 3,9-diaza-3,9-dimethylbicyclo[4.4.0]decane-2,10-dione (7). Diamide 7 was prepared, and the X-ray crystal structure of the complex [Eu(7)(2)(NO(3))(3)] exhibits the same chelate conformation predicted by the molecular mechanics model. A hydrophobic derivative, 3,9-diaza-3,9-dioctylbicyclo[4.4.0]decane-2,10-dione (8), was prepared, and solvent extraction studies reveal that the preorganized architecture of 8 gives a dramatic enhancement in binding affinity, exhibiting Eu(3+) distribution coefficients that are 7 orders of magnitude larger than a typical malonamide ligand, 1.

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