Washington. Professor Francesco Sansone, Arturo Arduini and Alessandro Casnati’s research group from the Chemistry Department of the University of Parma, in collaboration with the Radiochemistry Department of the Polytechnic University of Milano ( Proffesors Mario Mariani and Elena Macerata) and the French Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative (Dr. Marie-Christine Charbonnel), recently published an important study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The study is on a new class of nitrogenous organic substances that show a particular selectivity towards actinide cations rather than lanthanides. The feature of these binders, developed within the European project SACSESS, allows for the isolation of so-called “minor actinides” (Americium, Curium, Neptunium) that are among the most responsible for the radioactivity of waste from the treatment of exhausted nuclear fuel. (9Colonne)
