A single material approach to nuclear waste disposal

We are developing a novel concept for microencapsulating and chemically fixing actinide and other heavy element ions in phosphate-rich phases in vitreous silica. Our work is based on a chemically functionalized, porous silica that is termed Diphosil. Diphosil was developed by R. Chiarizia and coworkers in a collaboration between Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee to selectively sorb most actinide ions from nitric acid solutions [1]. Subsequently, EiChroM Industries received support from the U.S. Department of Energy to demonstrate production of Diphosil on an industrial scale.