ActITube aims to find a solution for the long-standing and currently re-emerging challenge of fixation highly active elements formed as waste from the nuclear industry. A long era of producing nuclear samples has resulted in a stockpile of highly problematic environmental issues in multiple industrial and academic sites. A recently discovered straightforward methodology for encapsulating uranium oxides in the lumen of WS2 nanotubes shows a promising pathway for at least partially addressing this problem. Following the new application of WS2 nanotube opens the door for the development of more suitable solutions, exploiting various other inorganic nanotubes that are chemically and economically advantageous, while leveraging the same proven principles of nanocapillary and chemical uptake of molten salts of actinide elements in the nanotubular matrix. The preliminary data on TiO2 nanotubes support the idea and also reveal unexpected reaction pathways, resulting in a new class of nanomaterials, brannerite-like structured UTi2O6 nanotubes.

Sustainable Development Goals

Masaryk University is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the conditions and quality of life on our planet by 2030.