DEGRADATION MECHANISM OF A NOVEL DIGLYCOLAMIDE LIGAND AND ITS IMPACT ON ACTINIDE AND LANTHANIDE CO-EXTRACTION EFFICIENCY

Since the organic solvents and additives used for actinide and lanthanide partitioning from spent nuclear fuel are in contact with acidic aqueous phases and continuously exposed to high radiation fields, a complete understanding of their radiolytic and hydrolytic degradation is extremely important to assess the impact of solvent/additive degradation on the actinide-lanthanide separation and thus the feasibility of the extracting system in the reprocessing. The research work aims at deepening the knowledge of the degradation due to ageing of an organic solvent containing the novel completely incinerable extractant 2,6-bis[(N-methyl-N-dodecyl)carboxamide]-4-methoxy-tetrahydro-pyran, showing a promising affinity for both actinides and lanthanides.