Synchrotron radiation (SR) based techniques have been utilized with increasing frequency in the past decade to explore the brilliant and challenging sciences of actinide-based materials. This trend is partially driven by the basic needs for multi-scale actinide speciation and bonding information and also the realistic needs for nuclear energy research. In this review, recent research progresses on actinide related materials by means of various SR techniques were selectively highlighted and summarized, with the emphasis on X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scattering spectroscopy, which are powerful tools to characterize actinide materials. In addition, advanced SR techniques for exploring future advanced nuclear fuel cycles dealing with actinides are illustrated as well.
Keywords: actinide computational chemistry; actinide materials; nuclear energy; synchrotron radiation; x-ray absorption spectroscopy.
© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.