Technetium-99 is a long-lived radioactive byproduct of nuclear fuel production and reprocessing. Its mobile chemical forms can travel through water and soil, making it a concern at legacy sites such as Sellafield in the U.K. and Hanford in the United States. Two studies led by researchers in The University of Manchester’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences investigated mineral-based methods to remove technetium from liquid waste or limit its movement through the environment.
In the first study, researchers incorporated dissolved technetium into layered double hydroxides (LDHs) as the minerals formed. They reported removing more than 99% of technetium from solution, including at elevated concentrations. X-ray analysis at Diamond Light Source and microscopy showed technetium incorporated directly into the mineral structure. The study reports the first evidence of technetium entering an LDH mineral’s octahedral layers. Samuel Shaw said the method locks technetium into a mineral structure. Researchers are working with Sellafield through the Game Changers program to assess whether the approach could help with decommissioning.
The second study tested methylene diphosphonic acid (MDP), used in nuclear medicine to bind technetium-99m to hydroxyapatite, as a way to capture technetium in contaminated groundwater. Earlier RADER work developed in situ hydroxyapatite-based remediation strategies for radionuclides such as uranium, but technetium-99’s high mobility had limited the approach’s use for that contaminant. The second-study team worked with The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Nuclear Medicine Department and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. MDP formed a soluble complex with chemically reduced technetium-99, which hydroxyapatite could capture. Laboratory tests found that hydroxyapatite removed up to 99% of the technetium-MDP complex from solution. Imaging experiments showed the approach also worked under representative flowing-groundwater conditions.
Combined with phosphate-mineral-forming remediation, the method could support targeted, long-term technetium removal from contaminated land. The researchers also demonstrated microbial reduction as a possible way to generate the complex for future in situ bioremediation.
The studies address different settings: one treats liquid waste and produces a solid waste form, while the other aims to immobilize technetium in contaminated ground and groundwater using phosphate minerals. The research was performed in RADER NNUF laboratories. The cited studies by He Cai and colleagues and Callum Robinson and colleagues were published in Environmental Science & Technology in 2026.