Résumé
Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is currently carried out via the well-established PUREX process which is a hydrometallurgical treatment performed in nitric acid and based upon redox operations followed by selective solvent extraction of U and Pu. In order to adapt this reprocessing technology to the future nuclear reactors but also to reply to the society concerns, new alternatives are nowadays under investigation to minimise the quantity of generated radioactive wastes, replace obsolete chemicals, increase safety and propose new routes of treatments also supposed resistant against proliferation. Sonochemistry uses the propagation of ultrasonic waves in liquid media to generate physico-chemical transformations in homogeneous solutions and heterogenous systems. The effects generally attributed to ultrasound do not result from direct interactions of acoustic waves with molecules but rather from acoustic cavitation, which is the nucleation, growth and rapid implosive collapse of vapour filled micro-bubbles. At collapse, these bubbles lead to extreme transient conditions of several thousands of degrees and hundreds of atmospheres while keeping the solution at ambient temperature and pressure.