The open cycle Gas Core Nuclear Rocket (GCR) possesses, in principle, outstanding propulsion characteristics that make it especially attractive for advanced space propulsion. With uranium as fuel and hydrogen as propellant, it can generate several thousand seconds of specific impulse and hundreds of kilonewtons of thrust. In its standard configuration, however, GCR is susceptible to hydrodynami...

Mixed actinide(III,IV) oxalates of the general formula M2.2UAn(C2O4)5·nH2O (An = Pu or Am and M = H3O(+) and N2H5(+)) have been quantitatively precipitated by oxalic precipitation in nitric acid medium (yield >99%). Thorough multiscale structural characterization using XRD and XAS measurements confirmed the existence of mixed actinide oxalate solid solutions. The XANES analysis confirmed that t...

1 SUBATECH/Ecole des Mines de Nantes, 4 rue Alfred Kastler, BP 20722, 44307 Nantes Cedex 3, France 2 CEA – DEN/DPC/SECR/LSRM, Bât. 391, Centre d’Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France & UMR 8587 (same address) 3 CNRS – UMR 8587 “Analyse et Environnement”, Bât. 391, Centre d’Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France 4 CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UFR de Chimie ...

Three room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), viz. C(4)mim(+)·PF(6)(-), C(6)mim(+)·PF(6)(-) and C(8)mim(+)·PF(6)(-), were evaluated as diluents for the extraction of Am(III) by N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyl diglycolamide (TODGA). At 3 M HNO(3), the D(Am)-values by 0.01 M TODGA were found to be 102, 34 and 74 for C(4)mim(+)·PF(6)(-), C(6)mim(+)·PF(6)(-) and C(8)mim(+)·PF(6)(-), respectively. The extracti...