Speciation Techniques and Facilities for Radioactive Materials at Synchrotron Light Sources: Workshop Proceedings

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are a new class of solvents. Their main interest is related to their “green” properties (non-volatile, non-flammable, etc.), but also from the variability of their physico-chemical properties (stability, hydrophobicity, viscosity) as a function of the RTIL cationic and anionic components. In the frame of the nuclear fuel reprocessing, RTILs are particularly attractive in order to improve existing processes or to develop new ones for actinide and lanthanide partitioning, in replacement of toxic solvents used nowadays, for metal electrodeposition or for liquid/liquid extraction by the use of task specific ionic liquids. However, despite the increasing number of publications devoted to ionic liquids, the solvation effects, the solute-solvent and solventsolvent interactions are still hardly known. These fundamental aspects are of tremendous importance to the understanding of the solvating properties of these new solvents. In this frame, we have undertaken studies on the solvation and complexation of lanthanides (III) and actinides in RTILs, by the use of spectroscopic techniques. Experiments were led in various ionic liquids in order to highlight the role of the anionic part of the RTILs on the reactivity of the studied cations. Results have clearly shown that solvation phenomena in RTILs are not as “simple” as in classical solvents. The dissolution of a Ln/An salt, even if complete, does not imply dissociation and solvation of the metal cation by the RTILs anions only. The nature of first co-ordination sphere of Ln/An depends on the competition between its counter-anions and the RTIL anions, which, in turn, influence the complexation reaction with other added anions such as chlorides.