Clemson University

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC

Battelle Savannah River Alliance, LLC

Jake W Amoroso

Kyle S Brinkman

Jianhua Tong

Jun Gao

Christopher S Dandeneau

Yuqing Meng

James M Becnel

Methods and systems directed to the separation of a heavy hydrogen isotope, e.g., tritium, from an aqueous stream are described. The methods and systems incorporate a separation media that includes a proton conducting ceramic that at low temperatures preferentially adsorbs heavy hydrogen isotopes and at high temperature preferentially adsorbs lighter heavy hydrogen isotopes. The methods can be temperature controlled to sequentially purify a contaminated stream and regenerate the separation media. The separation media can be free of traditional hydrogen isotope exchange catalyst materials.

Nanostructured ceramic membranes for hydrogen isotope separation

One-step solution combustion synthesis (SCS) methods for fabricating durable crystalline transuranic-doped rare earth zirconium pyrochlores are described. Methods are fast, amenable to upscaling, and present a simple strategy for producing crystalline ceramic materials that meet the minimum attractiveness criteria for special nuclear material. The methods include analysis of reactants and reaction conditions to select proper fuel as well as proper fuel content so as to encourage formation of the crystalline product in a single-step synthesis procedure.

Single step solution combustion synthesis of crystalline transuranic-doped rare earth zirconate pyrochlores

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Aiken, SC, United States of America

Jake W Amoroso