Preface
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Energy will be a critical issue in the 21 century. It can be anticipated that one of the great challenges in this century will be ensuring that the energy supplies required to raise the global standard of living will be available in the face of the threat of global climate change and decreasing availability of "clean" fossil fuels. Although not a panacea, fission-based nuclear power should play a key role in meeting this challenge. Nuclear power based on the fissioning of uranium and plutonium produces virtually no greenhouse gas emissions and sufficient nuclear fuel is available to support humankind's energy needs for decades at present consumption levels. However, for fission-based nuclear power to contribute significantly to future energy supplies, it will be essential to maintain the improvements that have been made in plant operational efficiency in the past decades, to license geological repos itories for waste isolation, and to consider again the issue of recycling of spent nuclear fuels. Recycling spent fuels has the potential to both ensure adequate supplies of nuclear fuel long into the future and to reduce the long-term radiotoxicity of the wastes. This book is the outcome of a symposium titled Separations for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle that was held at the 227 American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Anaheim, California, March 30April 1, 2004. The focus of this symposium was on assessing the current state of the art in nuclear separations science and technology as well as on identifying directions research and development should take to enable nuclear separations to meet 21 Century demands for waste minimi zation, environment protection, safety, and security. The subject matter of this book has been organized into five topical areas: (1) current trends and direction to the future, (2) aqueous processing, (3) emerging sepa rations systems, (4) actinide-lanthanide separations, and (5) solutionsolid interactions. This collection of chapters provides a snapshot of the current state of nuclear separations chemistry and can be used to help guide future directions in this critical technological field. th
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Lumetta et al.; Separations for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the 21st Century ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2006.
Acknowledgments
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on June 3, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: June 9, 2006 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2006-0933.pr001
We gratefully acknowledge the Separations Science and Technology Subdivision of the ACS Division of Industrial and Engineering Chem istry, Inc. and the ACS Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology for sponsoring this symposium. We thank all of the participants of this symposium as well as the authors and reviewers of the manuscripts published in this book for their cooperation and valuable contributions. Finally, we thank the ACS Books Department for their encouragement and support in the publication of this book.
Gregg J. Lumetta Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P.O. Box 999, Mail Stop MSIN P7-22 Richland, WA 99352
[email protected] (email)
Kenneth L . Nash Washington State University P.O. Box 644630 Pullman, WA 99164-4630
[email protected] (email)
Sue B. Clark Washington State University P.O. Box 644630 Pullman, WA 99164-4630
[email protected] (email)
Judah I. Friese Pacific Northwest National Laboratory P.O. Box 999, Mail Stop MSIN P5-50 Richland, WA 99352
[email protected] (email)
xii Lumetta et al.; Separations for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the 21st Century ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2006.
