By Andrew Grant
An electrical kick is all it takes to isolate one hazardous element from the rest of a nuclear power plant’s toxic waste.
New research published in the Nov. 6 Science demonstrates how to chemically manipulate the element americium so that it can be easily extracted from used nuclear fuel. While americium may not have the name recognition of uranium or plutonium, it’s highly radioactive and emits enough heat to complicate fuel storage. And until now, it was one of the trickiest elements to isolate and remove from nuclear waste.