Transuranic waste
Transuranic wastes are a special type of radioactive waste.
Definition
In the U.S., they are operated as separate waste category. From the U.S. Department of Energy ( DOE) they are defined as " waste that is contaminated with alpha emitters of atomic numbers 92 and half-lives of about 20 years in concentrations greater than 100 nCi / g ( 37,000 Bq / g) ." It is only to isotopes of plutonium, a majors as well as the Minor actinide actinides neptunium, americium, curium, berkelium and californium.
Your potential danger lies in the longevity of existing radionuclides, heavy radiation damage in the absorption into the body and toxicity of the artificial heavy metals and their compounds. They therefore require the same long-term isolation as high-level radioactive waste. However, dealing with them can be easier if they leave ( without manipulation arms behind thick radiation protection windows ) only alpha radiation and no penetrating gamma and neutron radiation. However, the absorption into the body, for example, must be excluded by protective clothing. Transuranic waste comes mainly from reprocessing and plutonium processing in the military field.
Minore actinides
Minore actinides (English minor actinides ) the actinides in spent nuclear fuel with the exception of uranium and plutonium, the majore actinides are called. The the Minor actinides include neptunium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium and fermium. The most important isotopes in spent nuclear fuel are neptunium -237, americium -241, americium -243, curium - 242 to -248, and californium - 249 to -252.
Plutonium and minor actinides are responsible for a large part of the ionizing radiation and the heat development in spent nuclear fuel in the period 300-20000 years.
To reduce the radiotoxicity is trying minore actinides using appropriate methods such as liquid-liquid extraction of radioactive waste to be removed (partitioning ). Problems are doing the close chemical relationship to the lanthanides, which make a clean separation. In a second step, the so-called transmutation, the separated minors actinides to be converted physically core.