Development of a more sustainable nuclear fuel cycle continues to generate interest with research focused on ligand-based extractions of minor actinides from lanthanides contained within spent nuclear fuel. The post-PUREX raffinate, containing fission products that include both trivalent actinides and lanthanides, poses a significant challenge in closing the nuclear fuel cycle due to radiotoxicity, residual heat load, and long half-life of the transuranics, such as americium. The difficulty of ligand-based separations of actinides from lanthanides includes the similarities of ionic radius and coordination chemistry between the metal and organic ligand, along with stability of the ligand under acidic conditions. Solubility of the ligand in preferred diluents also presents challenges. Our group has focused on synthesizing ideal ligands for Am/Eu separations as a model system. Current work includes the investigation of complexation and separation of a newly synthesized ligand class, 3,3’-dialkyloxy-phenyl-bis-1,2,4-triazinyl-2,6-pyridine. The complexation chemistry of 3,3’dibutyloxy-BTP with trivalent lanthanide complexes has been studied using spectrophotometric methods and separation assays have been performed under a broad range of conditions to assess preliminary efficacy. Biphasic solvent extraction studies for the separation of <sup>241</sup>Am from <sup>152</sup>Eu, as well as spectrophotometric titrations toward understanding metal-ligand complexation, will be disseminated.

Spectroscopic and liquid/liquid extraction studies of 3,3’-dibutyloxy BTP toward minor actinide separations

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