Ionic Liquids for the Nuclear Industry: A Radiochemical, Structural, and Electrochemical Investigation

Abstract

The applicability of ionic liquids within the nuclear industry has been investigated. The radiation stability of ionic liquids containing dialkylimidazolium cations has been tested through with alpha, beta and gamma irradiation. The results of these tests suggest that imidazolium salts have stabilities similar to alkylbenzenes and greater than tetrabutylphosphate / odorless kerosene (TBP/OK) mixtures. The oxidative dissolution of uranium dioxide and the anodic dissolution of uranium metal and plutonium metal have been carried out in various ionic liquid media 162

Lanthanides and Actinides in Ionic Liquids

“…When these ionic liquids were subjected to a radiation dose of 400 kGy by γ-irradiation, -particle irradiation, or R-particle irradiation, less than 1% of the ionic liquid underwent radiolysis. 139 The stability of the ionic liquids against high radiation doses is comparable to that of benzene but is much higher than that of the TBP/kerosene mixtures used in the PUREX process. The relatively high radiation resistance of imidazolium ionic liquids can be attributed to the presence of the aromatic imidazolium ring.…”

“…139,140 This work is of importance for the processing of spent nuclear fuel elements (see section 6). In the electrorefining process, the spent fuel elements act as the anode and pure metal acts as the cathode in a molten salt or ionic liquid.…”

“…139,160 For instance UO 2 could be dissolved in a mixture of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium nitrate and concentrated nitric acid (90:10 vol % ratio) at 70°C. However, it can be expected that under such reaction conditions also nitration of the imidazolium ring occurs.…”

The Interpretation of Diffraction Patterns of Two Prototypical Protic Ionic Liquids: a Challenging Task for Classical Molecular Dynamics Simulations

“…Besides the fact that their negligible vapor pressure makes them ideal candidates to replace the traditional noxious volatile organic compounds thereby prompting their use as “green solvents”, the possibility of modulating their physicochemical properties by changing, even slightly, the chemical structure of the constituting ions has allowed their use in many industrial and technological processes, whose number is everyday increasing. Cellulose processing, , nuclear fuel recovery, , and transport of reacting gases, − are only some of the most notable applications.…”

Novel class of functionalized ionic liquids with grafted CMPO-moieties for actinides and rare-earth elements recovery

“…5-7 Indeed, the imidazolium ionic liquids are relatively radiation resistant and do not undergo significant decomposition by radiolysis upon exposure to high radiation doses. 8 In this context, it should be taken into account that due to the ionic nature of ILs, the partitioning equilibria in solvent extraction systems involving ionic liquids are not necessarily identical to those involving conventional organic solvents. The equilibria often involve cation or anion exchange between the aqueous phase and the ionic liquid phase, and the contamination of the aqueous phase by the components of the ionic liquid is a problem for the applicability of ionic liquids in solvent extraction a A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova str.…”