Mesoporous materials in the field of nuclear industry: applications and perspectives

Abstract

In the context of increasing global energy demand associated with high prices for classical fossil fuels and rising concerns about CO₂ emissions, nuclear power is attracting renewed interest. Despite the recent accident in the Fukushima power plant, numerous countries maintain very ambitious nuclear programmes. The Generation IV International Forum [A Technology Roadmap for Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems, Generation IV International Forum, 2002] (an initiative launched by the US Department of Energy in 2000 to coordinate and promote efforts to design the next generation of nuclear power plants) supports works to develop new power plant designs and innovative concepts in the nuclear fuel cycle. These new concepts aim at achieving higher levels of security and resource efficiency as well as a higher resistance towards nuclear proliferation. Because of this blossoming of new ideas, mesoporous materials, which are already widely found in applications such as catalysis, sensing and optics, are expected to make their way in the field of nuclear power production. Up to now, some (hybrid) mesoporous solids have already been investigated as solid ligands to remove actinides and fission product contaminants from liquid effluents, but also as model materials to investigate radiation defects, as possible nuclear waste disposal form and as functional materials to be placed in or close to new forms of nuclear waste matrices. This contribution aims at reviewing the applications of mesoporous materials already described in the field of nuclear industry, and to underline some promising research directions in this area.