K.V. Chmutov’s Legacy in Developing the Fundamental Concepts of the Radioactive Elements Chromatography

Abstract

A review is presented of the work performed from the early 1950s to the present at the Laboratory of Radioelement Chromatography of the USSR Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physical Chemistry (the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry). The works in the field of studying the patterns of sorption and dynamics of chromatography for systems of chelate displacement chromatography (CDC), the chromatographic separation of elements under conditions of ionizing radiation, and the chromatographic separation of radionuclides with the use of separating ions are described. The separation of 137Cs radionuclide from irradiated nuclear fuel (INF) reprocessing solutions using ferrocyanide sorbents, the use of ion-exchange resins for the recovery of rare-earth elements (REEs) and actinides from solutions of different composition, and advances in the field of the sorption purification of liquid radioactive wastes of different chemical and radionuclide composition are also considered. The means developed at the Laboratory provided the basis for the technologies of the separation of radioactive elements from INF reprocessing solutions and the purification of liquid radioactive wastes. These technologies are used today at enterprises of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, nuclear power stations, and other facilities of the nuclear industry.