The ACS Nuclear Chemistry Summer Schools provide an excellent pipeline for undergraduate chemistry majors to graduate programs in nuclear and radiochemistry around the country. I attended the summer school in San Jose in 2010, when Frank Kinard taught the entire curriculum. Frank's love of teaching radiochemistry and his unfailing belief in the ability of his students greatly contributed to my decision to pursue a doctoral degree in radiochemistry. The summer school introduced me to many aspects of the field and gave me the skills required for my present research, which is focused on the chemistry of the actinides in nuclear reprocessing. The summer school also helped me to foster a special interest in nuclear security and energy policy.In my research, I am developing functionalized mesoporous silica materials for the selective extraction of actinides and lanthanides from acidic media. Functionalized mesoporous silica has many advantages as a solid extractant. Compared to solvent extraction systems, these solid-phase extractants have the potential to maintain the selectivity of the functional moieties while eliminating third-phase formation, to significantly reduce the amount of mixed hazardous waste produced, and to increase the efficiency of extraction due to their very high surface areas (>800 m2/g). Compared to coated extraction chromatography beads, they are potentially more stable over repeated use. Preliminary work has focused on functionalizing the silica with a phosphonate ligand, characterizing the material using solid-state MAS NMR and IR, and conducting batch contact experiments with uranium and europium.

From the ACS Nuclear Chemistry Summer School to actinide chemistry at UC Berkeley

248th National Meeting (2014)

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