Considerable progress has been made recently in the development of eff
icient and selective liquid-liquid extraction methods for the isolatio
n of various radionuclides from nuclear waste streams. These methods,
with minor modification, can be adapted to produce new chromatographic
materials capable of selectively sorbing any of a variety of elements
from biological, geological, and environmental samples. This article
explores the relationship between waste processing chemistry and extra
ction chromatography and describes applications of the new chromatogra
phic materials that such progress has provided.