Actinide speciation using synchrotron radiation

INE conducts an ambitious program for actinide speciation with synchrotron radiation based methods. Research activities cover basic investigations, e.g., on the structure of actinide complexes with organic and inorganic ligands, as well as applied investigations, e.g., on the behaviour of actinides under geochemical conditions of a HAW repository following water intrusion and waste matrix corrosion. The INE research group “Actinide speciation with synchrotron radiation” employs X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and other related techniques as highly efficient speciation tools. Precise determination of the absorption coefficient in the vicinity of element specific electronic states (“absorption edges”) allows conclusions on the local geometric and electronic structure of selected elements in a sample. To this end, the group operates the “INE-Beamline for actinide research” as CRG instrument at the KIT synchrotron radiation source ANKA.