ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
R. H. Rainey, J. G. Moore
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 10 | Number 4 | August 1961 | Pages 367-371
doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A15380
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Acid Thorex process has been developed on a laboratory scale for recovery of uranium and thorium from spent fuel solutions. The thorium and uranium are extracted by tributyl phosphate (TBP) with only the thorium nitrate and nitric acid as “salting agents.” As compared to the present Thorex process in which aluminum nitrate is employed as a salting agent, a considerably greater reduction in aqueous waste volumes is possible. With a synthetic solution of Consolidated Edison Thorium Reactor fuel as feed, uranium and thorium were decontaminated from ruthenium, zirconium-niobium, protactinium, and rare earth elements by factors of 2,000, 30,000, 1,000, and 105, respectively. The concentrated aqueous waste volume was 0.2 liter per kilogram of thorium processed. These values compare favorably with corresponding decontamination factor values for the aluminum-salted Thorex system of 600, 3,000, 3,000, and 2 × 105 and volume of 2 liters per kilogram of thorium processed.