Grosvenor Group

With many governments, particularly those in Canada, considering phasing out the use of fossil fuel based
power generation plants because of environmental concerns; nuclear energy is once again a serious
alternative. Although the power generated by nuclear reactors is considered "clean", a substantial amount of
hazardous radioactive waste is produced. This waste can be sequestered in ceramics or incorporated into
ordered compounds that are densely packed and disallow outward diffusion of the offending elements. The
long term goal of the research conducted in the Grosvenor group is the investigation and development of
ordered compounds containing small elements that sequester uranium (U) in the structure. To this end, it is
important to examine model compounds as host materials in order to gain a clear understanding of the
relationship between crystal structure, composition, bonding, electronic structure, and surface reactivity to
the sequestration of U. In particular, pyrochlore ceramics have been identified as promising materials for U
immobilization. These and related materials adopting the zircon, zirconolite, and skutterudite structures will
also be synthesized and investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray
absorption spectroscopy (utilizing synchrotron radiation) supported by electronic structure calculations.

Students working in the Grosvenor group will be trained in all of the disciplines used in this solid-state
inorganic chemistry research program (i.e., synthetic methods, structure analysis by X-ray diffraction,
electronic structure calculations, and X-ray spectroscopy). Much of the spectroscopy wil be performed at the
Canadian Light Source (www.lightsource.ca), Canada's only synchrotron radiation source which is located at
the University of Saskatchewan.