Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Rare Earth and Actinides, including Their Artificial Counterparts

Dear Colleagues,

Rare earth elements (REE) and actinides (An) belong to the group of most important critical metals required for successful transfer to the “green” industry and implementation of renewal or low-carbon sources of energy. Hence, data on geochemistry and mineralogy of the elements determining the possibility of their localization are of great importance to understand specific features of their behavior in different endogenic and exogenic processes in nature which influence the formation of ore concentrations. The other important part of REE and actinide research relates to problems of extraction of elements from natural ores, especially those which are complex in composition and contain other valuable elements (Ta, Nb, etc.), with further separation of the elements onto the groups and individual elements. Artificial REEs (predominantly light elements of the Ce group) in large amounts are formed in the nuclear fuel cycle, where they comprise an essential part of fission products. Additionally, transuranium actinides (Pu, Np, Am, Cm) generated at neutron irradiation of uranium fuel in NPPs are the most toxic and ecologically dangerous elements. Investigation of their behavior in the geosphere is required to develop methods to prevent contamination of the biosphere by these elements. REEs are also often considered imitators (surrogates) of actinides in laboratory studies, including the development of new host materials (matrices) for the incorporation of the elements, followed by their disposal in deep geological repositories. This Special Issue of the journal is aimed at new results in the field of geochemistry and mineralogy of rare earth elements and actinides, allowing a better understanding of deposits formation, their effective exploration, and REE–An mineral processing, as well as methods of element extraction from ores and their separation, investigation of migration/retardation of long-lived actinides in geological media, and the creation of safe and reliable barriers on their way to the biosphere. We invite authors to publish research articles or comprehensive reviews on this topic. All papers accepted will be published immediately and gathered on the Special Issue homepage.

Dr. Sergey V. Yudintsev
Dr. Maximilian S. Nickolsky
Guest Editors

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• REE and actinide behavior in nature (geochemistry, mineralogy, crystal chemistry)
• ore deposits formation, exploration, and processing
• industrial application of REE and actinides
• artificial REE and actinides derived in the nuclear fuel cycle, their extraction and separation
• waste forms for safe immobilization of long-lived actinides formed in the nuclear fuel cycle