ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
October 2025
Latest News
Empowering the next generation: ANS’s newest book focuses on careers in nuclear energy
A new career guide for the nuclear energy industry is now available: The Nuclear Empowered Workforce by Earnestine Johnson. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience across 16 nuclear facilities, Johnson offers a practical, insightful look into some of the many career paths available in commercial nuclear power. To mark the release, Johnson sat down with Nuclear News for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, her motivation for writing the book, and her advice for the next generation of nuclear professionals.
When Johnson began her career at engineering services company Stone & Webster, she entered a field still reeling from the effects of the Three Mile Island incident in 1979, nearly 15 years earlier. Her hiring cohort was the first group of new engineering graduates the company had brought on since TMI, a reflection of the industry-wide pause in nuclear construction. Her first long-term assignment—at the Millstone site in Waterford, Conn., helping resolve design issues stemming from TMI—marked the beginning of a long and varied career that spanned positions across the country.
J. R. Ferraro, D. F. Peppard
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 16 | Number 4 | August 1963 | Pages 389-400
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A26550
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
From freezing-point and isopiestic studies, it has been found that the acidic organophosphorus extractants of the type (GO)2PO(OH) and GOG′PO(OH) (where G is aryl, alkyl, or a derivative thereof) are predominantly dimeric in nonpolar diluents, such as n-hexane, cyclohexane, benzene, and carbon tetrachloride. The dimers are very stable and appear to monomerize only in more polar solvents, such as acetone, chloroform, or ethanol. Infrared spectra of these acids have been made, and the positions of the phosphoryl absorption determined in terms of the electronegativity of the G group. It is concluded from these studies that for the acids (GO)2PO(OH) an ionic P+O− and a strong acid is the better extractant; while for the acids GOG′PO(OH) a phosphoryl group with high double bond character and a strong acid is a better extractant. For both acid types these criteria are provided whenever the G group is highly electronegative. Complexes of organophosphorus extractants with metallic nitrates have been studied by infrared methods and it has been concluded that the nitrate spectra is of lowered symmetry than is present in ionic nitrate spectra, indicating a higher degree of covalency in the metal to nitrate band. Examples of these complexes are RE(NO3)3·2TBP (where RE is a rare earth metal, TBP is tri n-butyl phosphate) and M(NO3)(DEHP)3 (where DEHP is bis-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric anion). Infrared investigations of the salts of the acidic organophosphorus extractants have indicated the appearance of 2-POO− absorptions (asymmetric and symmetric). The asymmetric absorption appears to vary (1200–1282 cm−1) with the nature of the G group (being at higher frequency where G is aryl), and with the ionic potential of the metal (being at higher frequency as the ionic potential increases). Recent ultraviolet and infrared studies of complexes of the type M/TTA/TBP have been made and certain structures for these compounds have been indicated.
