Microfluidics devices applied to radionuclides separation in acidic media for the nuclear fuel cycle

Abstract

Miniaturization of analytical devices provides new perspectives for safety improvement, intensification, and diversification of processes (reduction of matter shipment, reduction of stored materials, energy savings, reaction conditions that are inaccessible with macroscopic reactors…). This reduced scale satisfies most of the criteria of green analytical chemistry as well as the principle of minimization of hazards associated to radioactive samples, thanks to a major reduction of sample quantities, reactants, wastes, and analysis time, and to automation. An increasing number of specific microsystems or “labs-on-a-chip” have been developed with this ambition, particularly for radionuclides purification and separation steps, and for their analyses in complex and hard-to-handle samples. This article illustrates the development of microsystems for elemental separations in acidic media prior to isotopic or elemental measurements by mass spectrometry or a radiometric analysis method for nuclear-related activities, and underlines the main challenges to take up.