Cesium-Snatching "Venus Flytrap" Material Takes the Bad Stuff Out of Nuclear Waste
Proving there's no science like accidental science, Northwestern researchers looking for materials to facilitate ion exchange have discovered a "Venus flytrap" for radioactive cesium that has the potential filter out 100 percent of the nasty stuff in nuclear waste. Made of gallium, sulfur and antimony compound, the synthetic material is highly selective in what it will seize, but in lab tests it snatched every single cesium ion from a sodium-rich solution designed to mimic the makeup of nuclear leftovers. One reason radioactive nuclear waste is so difficult to clean up is the high ratio of sodium to cesium, which can reach 1,000:1. Picking out the radioactive ions in nuclear plant waste, for instance, would mean a good deal of water could be returned to the water cycle, and less storage space would be needed for nuclear waste materials. But filtering the cesium needles from a sodium haystack is beyond...