Joint TecRad - RULET Autumn School on Technetium and other Fission Products

24 Nov 2025, 12:00 → 27 Nov 2025, 15:45 Europe/Berlin

114/202 (HZDR)

Katharina Mueller (HZDR), Natalia Mayordomo Herranz (HZDR)

The school is dedicated to supporting early-career researchers by offering in-depth insights into nuclear waste management, radioecology and fundamental synthetic radiochemistry – with a particular focus on technetium and other relevant fission products. The event is designed to foster networking and collaboration between young scientists and experienced experts in the field. The program will cover a broad range of topics including, but not limited to:

• nuclear waste management and legacy sites,
• fundamental chemistry,
• radionuclide transport processes, and
• analytical methods for investigating the behavior of Tc and other fission products.

To create an engaging and interactive environment, the school will feature a variety of activities:

• scientific invited talks
• flash talks and poster session presented by early-career researchers
• a career round table discussion,
• and a hands-on, interactive on case study activity.

Each early-career participant is expected to contribute to the poster session by presenting their own research project.

Invited guests:

V. Anagnostopoulus	R. Polly
R. Alberto	N. Mayordomo
Ch. Borkel	J. Poonoosamy
L. Francesconi	J. Rothe
X. Gaona	C. Stephan-Scherb
R. Gericke	T. Sasaki
S. Hagemann	S. Saslow
K. Hain	E. Strub
N. Jordan	G. J. Thorogood
J. Kretzschmar	C. Walter
G. Law	J. Wolf
J. Lloyd

 

Participation is free of charge, and on-site attendance is mandatory for all early-career participants. Participation will be confirmed via email after the review of submitted abstracts.

Important dates

Abstract submission deadline: 08 August 2025, extended to 22 August 2025
Decision on participation: 26 August 2025
Registration: 30 September 2025

For abstract submission and questions about it, write an email to technetium.fission@hzdr.de

 

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This event is fully supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection via TecRad (02NUK072) and RULET (02E12224B) projects, respectively.

Monday 24 November

12:00 Get together

1 Welcome

2 The necessity of developing methodologies to monitor fission products with exotic oxidation states

Speaker: Natalia Mayordomo Herranz (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

3 Site Selection, Safety Analyses and their legal framework – where does Tc come into play?

Speaker: Christoph Borkel (BASE)

14:30 Coffee Break

4 Technetium - The Unknown Center of the Periodic Table

Speaker: Erik Strub (University of Cologne)

5 Comprehensive insights into material degradation characteristics by a multi-analytical approach on different length scales

Speaker: Christiane Stephan-Scherb (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)

6 Revisiting Technetium-99 Immobilization: Anoxic Remobilization Pathways Driven by Redox Active Geochemical Substrates

Speaker: Vasileios Anagnostopoulus (University of Central Florida)

16:50 Coffee Break

7 Career Panel Discussion

Speakers: Christiane Stephan-Scherb (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), Christoph Borkel (BASE), Diana Rodríguez Hernandez (ROTOP Pharmaka GmbH), Jenna Poonoosamy (Forschungszentrum Jülich), Silvia Stumpf (Projektträger Karlsruhe)

18:20 Transfer to Dresden

19:00 School Dinner

Matjo BBQ and Hot Pot

Tuesday 25 November

08:15 Transfer Hotel - HZDR

8 Assessment of the containment of contaminants in subsurface barriers

Speaker: Jens Wolf (Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit gGmbH)

9 The range of Technetium valences and how that variation drives the formation of different oxide structures

Speaker: Gordon J. Thorogood (Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation)

10 FeII-mediated and direct immobilization of 99Tc by the bentonite-isolate Desulfitobacterium sp. G1-2

Speaker: Irene Cardaio (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

11 Experimental and Theoretical 99Tc NMR Spectroscopy

Speaker: Maximilian Roca Junger (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

10:30 Coffee Break

12 From Speciation to Retention: Understanding Selenium Mobility in the Geosphere

Speaker: Norbert Jordan (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

13 77Se and 99Tc NMR spectroscopy: a versatile tool for studying fission product behavior in aqueous systems

Speaker: Jérôme Kretzschmar (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

14 The behavior of Tc(I) in the environment - Sorption studies of [Tc(CO)3(H2O)3]BF4 with different minerals

Speaker: Caroline Börner (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

15 Retention of Tc by Fe(II) solid phases: Combining wet chemistry experiments and spectroscopic data

Speaker: Julius Wolf (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

12:30 Lunch

Lab Visit: Visit Radiochemical Labs

15:00 Coffee Break

16 Isothermal calorimetry - a versatile method to determine a wide range of thermodynamical properties in aqueous systems

Speaker: Sven Hagemann (Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit gGmbH)

17 Thermodynamic stability of 226Ra-containing carbonate phases: atomistic simulations and thermodynamic calculations

Speaker: Stefan Rudin (Forschungszentrum Jülich)

18 Cobalt Depletion by Inorganic Sorbents

Speaker: Elizaveta Artiushova (University of Bern)

19 Optimizing culture conditions for the interaction of Pseudodesulfovibrio aespoeensis with Tc(VII)

Speaker: Carmen Solé Bonillo (Technische Universität Dresden)

20 Learning From Nuclear Medicine To Help Cure 99Tc Contaminated Land

Speaker: Callum Robinson (The University of Manchester)

21 Pertechnetate electrochemical reduction in carbonate environment: In situ and ex-situ 99Tc-NMR and UV/VIS spectroelectrochemical studies

Speaker: Arkadz Bureika (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

22 Normalization and isobar suppression methods for AMS-based ultra-trace detection of Technetium-99

Speaker: Stephanie Adler (University of Vienna)

23 Reduction of Pertechnetate by Magnetite Nanoparticles

Speaker: Thomas Zimmermann (Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg)

24 Synthesis and characterization of macropa-based complexes for the stable coordination of radiometals

Speaker: Rodrigo Castro Biondo (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

25 Accelerator produced 99mTc for medical applications: Technical and chemical optimizations and comparison with conventional Al2O3 generator systems

Speaker: Marcos Michel (University of Cologne)

26 Insights into how pyrite immobilizes technetium-99 in metabolite-rich environments

Speaker: Vijay Saini (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

27 Immobilization of technetium(+1) with gamma-alumina and hematite

Speaker: Jiyoung Eum (Technische Universität Dresden)

28 The Role of Pseudodesulfovibrio aespoeensis in the Immobilization of 99Tc

Speaker: Marcos F. Martinez Moreno (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

Poster Session

19:10 Transfer to Dresden

Wednesday 26 November

08:15 Transfer Hotel - HZDR

29 XXX

Speaker: Jon Lloyd (The University of Manchester)

30 AI-assisted lab-on-a-chip experiments: Setting new frontiers in radio-geochemistry

Speaker: Jenna Poonoosamy (Forschungszentrum Jülich)

10:20 Coffee Break

31 Imaging Tc at the nanoscale by Secondary Neutral Mass Spectrometry

Speaker: Clemens Walter (Leibniz Universität Hannover)

32 Controls on the Long-Term Migration and Fate of Selenium and Technetium: Insights from Complex Environmental Systems

Speaker: Gareth Law (University of Helsinki)

12:20 Lunch

33 From Plutonium to Technetium: Unraveling Hanford’s Nuclear Legacy and Quest for Clean-Up

Speaker: Sarah Saslow (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

34 Some Insights into Tc Chemistry from a Radiopharmacy View Point. Is There Relevance for Tc Chemistry in Fission Waste?

Speaker: Roger Alberto (Universität Zürich)

14:50 Coffee Break

35 XAS based speciation of technetium and long-lived fission products

Speaker: Jörg Rothe (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

36 Ab initio speciation of Tc-gluconate complexes in aqueous systems

Speaker: Robert Polly (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

Case Studies

18:10 Transfer to Dresden

19:00 Dinner (self-paid)

Thursday 27 November

37 Radiological legacy in forests adjacent to the Fukushima Daiichi Site: Interactions of key fission products with soil and biomonitors

Speaker: Takayuki Sasaki (Kyoto University)

38 Solution chemistry of Tc under conditions relevant for nuclear waste disposal

Speaker: Xavier Gaona (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

10:20 Coffee Break

39 Environmental Technetium-99 Detection at the Limits of (A)MS Sensitivity

Speaker: Karin Hain (Universität Wien)

40 SQUID measurements on actinide complexes

Speaker: Robert Guericke (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e.V.)

41 Workshop Wrap-Up / End of School

12:35 Lunch Bag

42 Optional: Visit HZDR Research Facilities

15:00 Transfer to train station Dresden - Neustadt