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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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NECX debut: Shaping the next era of energy
The sold-out inaugural Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX) got off to a roaring start in Atlanta, Ga., Tuesday morning with an opening plenary that was a live highlight reel discussing the latest industry achievements.
Starting with a lively promo video that left the audience amped up for Entergy’s CEO and NEI chair Drew Marsh, who welcomed everyone to the event, hosted jointly by the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute. He spoke to a full house of more than 1,300 attendees, promising a blend of science, technology, policy, and advocacy centered around the future of nuclear energy.
Javiera Cervini-Silva
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 8 | August 2024 | Pages 1487-1495
Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2295152
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Bentonites are natural reservoirs of various elements and are of interest because they are sources of thorium and uranium, which are transition elements that provide nuclear energy. The objective of this work was to study the plausible association(s) of these elements with other transition elements of interest. The contents of 18 transition elements (cerium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, hafnium, lanthanum, manganese, molybdenum, neodymium niobium, nickel, tantalum, thorium, uranium, vanadium, yttrium, zinc, and zirconium) in 38 bentonites determined experimentally by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) were analyzed.
The contents of the elements were plotted in (x,y) graphs and then fitted to polynomial functions (orders 1 through 6). According to the coefficient of determination (r2: 0.5 ≤ r2 strong, 0.3 ≤ r2 ≤ 0.5 medium, and r2 ≤ 0.3 weak), the contents of thorium, uranium, niobium, and nickel related strongly, thus the presence of niobium and nickel served to predict the presence of detectable concentrations of thorium and uranium. The equations showing higher r2 values were
1. {Th} = 1e-6{Nb}5 − 3e-4{Nb}4 + 1.9e-2{Nb}3 − 5.4e-1{Nb}2 + 7.3{Nb} − 6.3, r2 = 0.53.
2. {Th} = −3e-8{Nb}6 + 9e-6{Nb}5 − 1e-3{Nb}4 + 4.7e-2{Nb}3 − 1.1{Nb}2 + 11.5{Nb} − 16, r2 = 0.54.
3. {Th} = 5e-6{Ni}4 − 1.5e-3{Ni}3 − 1.5e-1{Ni}2 − 5.8{Ni} + 9e+1, r2 = 0.49.
4. {Th} = −7e-8{Ni}5 + 3e-5{Ni}4 − 5.1e-3{Ni}3 + 3.4e-1{Ni}2 − 9.5{Nb} + 1e+2, r2 = 0.56.
5. {Th} = 2e-9{Ni}6 − 8e-7{Ni}5 + 2e-4{Ni}4 − 1.5e-2{Ni}3 − 7e-1{Ni}2 − 1e+1{Ni} + 1e+1, r2 = 0.60.
6. {Th} = −1e-4{U}5 + 1.3e-2{U}4 − 4.3e-1{U}3 + 5.7e-1{U}2 − 2e+1{U} + 5e+1, r2 = 0.54.
7. {Th} = 6e-6{U}6 − 9e-4{U}5 + 4.5e-2{U}4 − 1.1{U}3 + 1e+1{U}2 − 5e+1{U} + 1e+2, r2 = 0.64.
8. {U} = 8e-6{Nb}4 − 1.2e-3{Nb}3 + 4.8e-2{Nb}2 − 4.3e-1{Nb} + 6.8, r2 = 0.48.
9. {U} = 2e-7{Nb}5 − 4e-5{Nb}4 + 2.8e-3{Nb}3 − 7.6e-2{Nb}2 + 1.1{Nb} + 1.9, r2 = 0.5.
10. {U} = 1e-8{Nb}6 − 3e-6{Nb}5 + 2e-4{Nb}4 − 8e-3{Nb}3 + 1.3e-1{Nb}2 − 5.4e-1{Nb} + 5.4, r2 = 0.51.
11. {U} = 1.8e-1{Th} + 2.6, r2 = 0.49; {U} = 1.7e-3{Th}2 − 2.9e-2{Th} + 6.3, r2 = 0.60.
12. {U} = 2e-5{Th}3 − 1.7e-3{Th}2 + 1.4e-1{Th} + 4.5, r2 = 0.58; {U} = −5e-7{Th}4 + 2e-4{Th}3 − 1.5e-2{Th}2 + 5.5e-1{Th} + 1.5, r2 = 0.6.
13. {U} = −7e-9{Th}5 + 2e-6{Th}4 − 1e-4{Th}3 − 3e-4{Th}2 + 2.7e-1{Th} + 2.9, r2 = 0.6.
14. {U} = 2e-9{Th}6 − 8e-7{Th}5 + 1e-4{Th}4 − 8.1e-3{Th}3 − 2.4e-1{Th}2 + 15, r2 = 0.65.
This study provided a joint experimental and theoretical approach to optimize the recovery of thorium and uranium and to save invaluable onsite and off-site natural resources and work time. The findings might expand on other studies reporting the quantification of transition metals on bentonite matrices. For instance, the concentrations of nickel reported in studies using bench techniques could serve as the basis to calculate the contents of thorium.
