Separation of Plutonium from Other Actinides and Fission Products in Ionic Liquid Medium

ABSTRACT Recovery of plutonium from spent nuclear fuels is very much indispensable in fast neutron reactor fuel reactor wherein, plutonium – 239 (239Pu) is used as the driving fuel. Separation of Pu(IV) from other metal ions present in the spent nuclear fuels by liquid–liquid extraction process is a difficult task in conventional solvent system. In this context, Ionic Liquids (ILs) could be considered as a suitable solvent/diluent in the separation of actinides and fission products due to their numerous fascinating properties, such as high solvating capability, high selectivity, and high radiation stability. Selective separation of a target metal ion from other metal ions is feasible in IL-based extraction by suitably designing their cation–anion combination to acquire the desired selectivity. The present review summarizes the work on Pu(IV) solvent extraction from nitric acid medium using ILs as the extraction phase and highlights suitability of IL-based solvents for the selective separation of Pu(IV) from other actinides and fission products. This review also emphasizes on remarkable separation factor (SF) for Pu(IV) from other metal ions. Details on extraction kinetics, extraction thermodynamics, and stripping profiles of Pu(IV) are also congregated and presented. Graphical abstract