PNNL researcher acknowledged with chemical separations award
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Category: ResearchType: News
Source: PNNL
Date: Tuesday, September 15th, 2015
September 15, 2015 
RICHLAND, Wash. - A chemist at the D.O.E.'s Pacific Northwest National Lab has been selected to gain the Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award recognizing significant and lasting contributions to separating actinide elements, such as plutonium and uranium. Gregg Lumetta was recognized for his contributions which are being used to treat high-level radioactive waste in Hanford waste tanks and for the design and application of new ligands (molecules that bond to metal ions) to bind specific elements for waste cleanup applications.
Lumetta leads PNNL's Actinide Science Team and serves as the principal investigator for a D.O.E. plan seeking to develop new methods for separating actinides from irradiated nuclear fuel. He also plays a lead technical role in preparing plutonium oxide specimens for nuclear forensics applications. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and has published 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
He was selected to gain the award for accomplishments in applying the transuranium extraction (TRUEX) process to the pre-treatment of high-level radioactive sludges inside Hanford underground waste tanks. In particular, he successfully demonstrated this concept for separating the transuranic elements plutonium and americium into smaller volumes for immobilization in borosilicate glass, leaving the remaining material to be managed as low-level waste.
Additionally, he investigated leaching of aluminum from the sludge with sodium hydroxide as a front-end process to TRUEX. This leaching method was subsequently incorporated into the flowsheet currently planned for the Pretreatment Facility at the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
Other accomplishments include the development of new ligands for cleanup, application of existing ligands for plutonium separation, and development of new methods for separating minor actinides such as americium and curium from dissolved irradiated fuel.
Lumetta is the 6th PNNL staff member to gain the award. He was recognized at the yearly Actinide Separations Conference in Salt Lake City in May.
Tags: Energy, Environment, Fundamental Science, Awards and Recognizes, Environmental Remediation, Chemistry
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Lab address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs 4,300 staff and has an yearly budget of in excess of $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the D.O.E.'s Office of Science. As the single biggest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information on PNNL, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.
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