1:1 and 1:2 complexes of americium(III) with a hydrophilic anionic SO3-Ph-BTP4- ligand were detected in acidic aqueous nitrate solutions by a solvent extraction method. The determined conditional stability constants of these complexes, logβ1 = 4.35 ± 0.07 and logβ2 = 7.67 ± 0.06, related to 1 M aqueous solutions, are much lower than the literature values for the analogous curium species, determ...

......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................... xiii Acronyms..............................................................................................................

Magnesium aluminate spinel is one of the most investigated inert matrix materials, due to its good physico-chemical stability, resistance against neutron irradiation, and its thermal conductivity comparable with conventional UO2 fuel. At the HFR in Petten various combinations of actinides and spinel have been tested within the EFTTRA programme, with the object to study the transmutation of amer...

The distribution coefficients (D) of polonium between 0.75 M di(2-ethyhexyl)phosphoric acid (HDEHP) in cyclohexane and aqueous hydrochloric and nitric acids have been studied. Results indicate that: (1) D values are ranged from 32.7 to 0.00048 when the HCl acidities vary from 0.10 to 10.0 M, showing that polonium can well be extracted by 0.75 M HDEHP in cyclohexane if the aqueous HCl acidities ...

In June 2007, the United States Department of Energy incorporated revised values of neutron weighting factors into its occupational radiation protection regulation Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 835, as part of updating its radiation dosimetry system. This has led to a reassessment of neutron radiation fields at high energy accelerators such as those at the Fermi National Accelerato...

We report on the photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction solar cells using novel nanoparticles of 6-palmitate ascorbic acid surface modified TiO(2) as an electron acceptor embedded into the donor poly(3-hexyl)thiophene (P3HT) matrix. Devices were fabricated by using P3HT with varying amounts of red TiO(2) nanoparticles (1:1, 1:2, 1:3 w-w ratio). The devices were characterized by measuri...

The M spectrum of the element uranium was reinvestigated by using both high-resolution wavelength dispersive (WD) spectrometry as well as energy dispersive (ED) spectrometry. Thereby we observed relative intensities that deviate from data in the literature. These discrepancies were not only observed for the weak U M lines but also for major lines. By measuring the Mα,β region of the spectrum wi...

The paper compares the processes used at ITU for the fabrication of americium targets for transmutation: powder mixing process, sol-gel method and the infiltration by an active solution of inactive pellets. The advantages of the latter processes, related mainly to the lower level of dust formation, are stressed. Moreover, the radiological constraints on the fabrication as a function of Am conte...

Berkelium (Bk) has been predicted to be the only transplutonium element able to exhibit both +III and +IV oxidation states in solution, but evidence of a stable oxidized Bk chelate has so far remained elusive. Here we describe the stabilization of the heaviest 4+ ion of the periodic table, under mild aqueous conditions, using a siderophore derivative. The resulting Bk(IV) complex exhibits lumin...