Research Progress on Separation of Americium and Curium

The minor actinides Am and Cm are the main heat contributor to the long-term storage of high-level liquid waste. Separating them together or only Am from the liquid waste can greatly reduce the final disposal volume. During the production of trans-plutonium elements, the preparation of Am and Cm and the chemical separation of Am and Cm after irradiation are also involved. Therefore, the separation of Am and Cm is one of the important research areas of actinides chemistry and materials. But mutual separation of Am and Cm is difficult, due to their similar chemical properties, which mainly maintained as trivalent ions in aqueous solution. Recently, researches have been focused on oxidizing Am(Ⅲ) to a higher valence state, or, utilizing “push-pull effect” to increase the separation factor by the different affinity between Am and Cm with ligands. Current research status on Am and Cm separation, as well as well-developed processes is reviewed, and then the future research prospects are anticipated.