In the absence of oxidizing or reducing agents the chromatographic and coprecipitation behavior of element 102 is similar to that of the alkaline earth elements. After oxidation with ceric ions, the behavior is that expected of a trivalent actinide. Nobelium is the first actinide for which the +2 oxidation state is the most stable species in aqueous solution.

The rationale is disclosed for a substructure within the Earth's inner core, consisting of an actinide subcore at the center of the Earth, surrounded by a subshell composed of the products of nuclear fission and radioactive decay. Estimates are made as to possible densities, physical dimensions, and chemical compositions. The feasibility for self-sustaining nuclear fission within the subcore is...

Neutral and cationic organoactinide complexes have been extensively studied in the past decade as catalysts for several organic transformations.1,2 Polymerization of alkenes,3,4 oligomerization,5,6 intermolecular hydroamination,7-9 and hydrosilylation of terminal alkynes,10 and 1,1-insertion of isonitriles into terminal alkynes11 comprise some of these processes. However, because of the high ox...

Technical Description of the Work Decommissioning of transuranic waste (TRU) into low-level radioactive waste (LLW) represents the largest cleanup cost associated with the nuclear weapons complex. This work is directed towards developing a low-cost plasma technology capable of converting TRU into LLW, based upon highly selective plasma etching of plutonium and other actinides from contaminated ...

The reliable evaluation of the r-process production of the actinides and careful estimates of the uncertainties affecting these predictions are key ingredients especially in nucleo-cosmochronology studies based on the analysis of very metal-poor stars or on the composition of meteorites. This type of information is also required in order to make the best possible use of future high precision da...

Reaction of the organoactinide complexes (C5Me5)2AnMe2 (An = Th, U) with catecholborane yields an inclusion complex where the actinide is encapsulated inside a 15-membered, hexaoxo, trianionic macrocycle built from alternating catechol and catecholborate fragments. In the presence of LiOH, a dimer of two encapsulated actinide macrocycles is formed. The X-ray molecular structure for all the comp...

The impact of actinides on the environment is mitigated by their interaction with particle surfaces and by incorporation into suitable waste forms. In both cases, a fundamental knowledge of the local co-ordination environment of actinide ions is essential for understanding their stability in various near-surface environments under a range of conditions. When actinide ions are sorbed on mineral ...

Recent progress in the assembly of actinide-containing coordination clusters has generated systems in which the first glimpses of magnetic exchange coupling can be recognized. Such systems are of interest owing to the prospects for involving 5f electrons in stronger magnetic exchange than has been observed for electrons in the more contracted 4f orbitals of the lanthanide elements. Here, we sur...

Laser-ablated Th atoms react with BF(3) during condensation in excess argon at 6 K to form the first actinide borylene (FB=ThF(2)) and actinide-boron multiple bond. Three new product absorptions in the B-F and Th-F stretching regions of matrix infrared spectra are assigned to FB=ThF(2) from comparison to theoretically predicted vibrational frequencies.

The Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor (ALMR) is a US Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored fast reactor design based on the Power Reactor, Innovative Small Module (PRISM) concept originated by General Electric and fieled with ternary metal Iiel (under development by Argonne National Laboratory in the IFR Program). Higher actinide transmutation may be accomplished in the ALMR by using either a breedi...