ORNL's chemical separations successes are topic of Aug. 8 talk

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Corporate Fellow Bruce Moyer will speak to Friends of ORNL on Tuesday, on past and present ORNL successes in separation science and technology.

He will give his talk at noon at the UT Resource Center, 1201 Oak Ridge Turnpike. Attendees may bring their own lunch to eat. To view the virtual noon lecture, click on the talk title on the homepage of the www.fornl.org website and then click on the Zoom link near the top of the page describing the lecture.

In 2013 Moyer received a prestigious award from the U.S. Department of Energy, which funds most of ORNL’s research. He led the chemical development of the Caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) process implemented at DOE’s Savannah River Site for removal of cesium from legacy nuclear waste, winning the Secretary of Energy’s Award for his team as a result.

Most of the legacy nuclear waste consists of soluble salts, and most of the radiotoxicity of the salt is due to cesium-137. Exposure to radioactive cesium-137 in nuclear waste can increase the risk of cancer. Exposure to large amounts can cause burns, acute radiation sickness and even death.

In his presentation, he will focus on his personal successes in separation science and technology in the context of the long history of triumphs in the field at ORNL that continue to this day. He gave this summary of his talk:

“ORNL started as the site for dual experiments in neutron science and separation science. Could plutonium be separated and purified from neutron-irradiated natural uranium at gram scale? To this day, ORNL stands as a global powerhouse in both neutron and separation science, having further diversified its innovations across the landscape of energy-related science and technology.

"ORNL has developed landmark separation processes that have truly changed the world. As I will highlight in a few examples, this remarkable tradition continues in the areas of isotope separations, nuclear fuel recycling, environmental remediation, waste treatment, carbon sequestration, and critical materials.

“My contributions have dealt with new concepts for nuclear fuel recycle, nuclear waste treatment, and rare-earth separation. My most impactful achievement has been the chemistry for cesium separation now used at the Savannah River Site as the centerpiece for the $2 billion Salt Waste Processing Facility.”

At ORNL, Moyer specialized in fundamental and applied aspects of separation science and technology. He earned his B.S. degree in chemistry from Duke University and Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1979. Moyer serves as co‑editor of the journal “Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange” as well as the book series “Ion Exchange and Solvent Extraction.” He has won numerous awards.