High sorption and selective extraction of actinides from aqueous solutions

Abstract

The selective elimination of long-lived radioactive actinides from complicated solutions is crucial for pollution management of the environment. Knowledge about the species, structures and interaction mechanism of actinides at solid–water interfaces is helpful to understand and to evaluate physicochemical behavior in the natural environment. In this review, we summarize recent works about the sorption and interaction mechanism of actinides (using U, Np, Pu, Cm and Am as representative actinides) on natural clay minerals and man-made nanomaterials. The species and microstructures of actinides on solid particles were investigated by advanced spectroscopy techniques and computational theoretical calculations. The reduction and solidification of actinides on solid particles is the most effective way to immobilize actinides in the natural environment. The contents of this review may be helpful in evaluating the migration of actinides in near-field nuclear waste repositories and the mobilization properties of radionuclides in the environment.