Separations for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems

Friday, November 20, 2009 - 3:00 p.m. to Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 3:55 p.m.
ChEMS Seminar

Featuring Gordon D. Jarvinen, Ph.D.
Acting Director, G.T. Seaborg Institute
Los Alamos National Laboratory

Location: DBH 1500
Free and open to the public

Abstract:
A resurgence of the use of nuclear power in the U.S. appears probable with construction and operating license applications for 34 new nuclear power plants in progress or expected by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and most existing plants applying for license extensions. The DOE Office of Nuclear Energy has renewed research and development within the U.S. on options to close the nuclear fuel cycle under the Fuel Cycle R&D Program and the earlier Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI).  An overview of the development of separation processes for used nuclear fuel around the world will be presented including PUREX and related liquid-liquid extraction processes and pyroelectrochemical separations.  Ongoing work at Los Alamos to explore separation processes in alkaline aqueous solutions and develop new fuel structures that simplify the recycling of the actinides will be discussed.

About the Speaker:
Gordon D. Jarvinen has been associate director of the Glenn T. Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science at Los Alamos National Laboratory for eight years, and recently became acting director.  He received a B.S. degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. deg in inorganic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He was a Resident Research Fellow at the Central Research Department of E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company in Wilmington, DE after receiving his B.S.  He came to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1979 to do postdoctoral research in the Chemistry and Nuclear Chemistry Division and has worked at the Laboratory since then in the Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division, the Nuclear Materials Technology Division and the Seaborg Institute.  He received the R.D. Baker Award in Science & Technology from the Nuclear Materials Technology Division in 1999. In 2000 he served as Chair of the Separation Science and Technology Subdivision of the Division of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. In 2008 he received the G.T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award. He has authored over 60 journal articles and book chapters and has received 6 patents to date.  His research interests include actinide and lanthanide coordination chemistry and development of methods for improved separation and analysis of actinides, including extraction, ion-exchange, and membrane separation systems.