In the nuclear fuel cycle technetium has a unique role.  It is produced at a significant level and is an important fission product for waste consideration.  Compared to other elements on the periodic table, technetium is less explored, especially in areas of compound synthesis and coordination chemistry.  The nuclear fuel cycle offers opportunities to investigate fundamental and applied technetium chemistry in more detail, with fundamental complexation chemistry providing insight into waste forms and separations.  Examples are given for technetium solution and solid phases, with the coordination chemistry explored by spectroscopy and diffraction.  For waste forms, the formation of low valent or metallic phases demonstrates enhanced inter-technetium interactions which grants the resulting compounds resistance to corrosion or limits solubility.  For separations, the anionic species of pertechnetate are exploited for achieving separations from actinides.  The results demonstrate the clear ability to achieve advances in technetium applications and fundamental chemistry through utilization of speciation and coordination chemistry.

Utilization of technetium compound synthesis and coordination chemistry for the nuclear fuel cycle

246th National Meeting (2013)

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