The synthesis of (U,Th)O(2) solid solutions at a relatively low temperature of 1100 °C using a new technique is described. First, separate actinide oxides were reacted with ammonium hydrogen fluoride to form ammonium actinide fluorides at room temperature. Subsequently, this fluoride was converted to an actinide oxide solid solution using a two-phase reaction process, which involved heating of ...

Treatment of underground tanks at Hanford with concentrated alkali to improve removal of wastelimiting components of sludges has proven less efficacious for Al and Cr removal than had been hoped. Hence, more aggressive treatments of sludges, including contact with oxidants targeting Cr(III), have been tested in a limited number of samples and found to enhance Cr removal. Unfortunately, treatmen...

Fully relativistic four-component self-consistent field and correlated calculations at the Mo”ller– Plesset second-order perturbation theory level ~MP2! have been performed for the monofluorides and monoand trihydrides of lanthanum, lutetium, actinium, and lawrencium. The calculated spectroscopic constants are in good agreement with available experimental data. The calculated bond lengths have ...

Multiconfigurational quantum chemical methods (CASSCF/CASPT2) have been used to study the chemical bond in the actinide diatoms Ac2, Th2, Pa2, and U2. Scalar relativistic effects and spin−orbit coupling have been included in the calculations. In the Ac2 and Th2 diatoms the atomic 6d, 7s, and 7p orbitals are the significant contributors to the bond, while for the two heavier diatoms, the 5f orbi...

Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative research on transmutation fuels includes mono-nitride ceramic fuel forms, and consists of closely coordinated “hot” actinide and “cold” inert and surrogate fuels work. Matrix and surrogate materials work involves three major components: (1) fuel matrix synthesis and fabrication, (2) fuel performance, and (3) fuel materials modeling. The synthesis and fabrication c...

Half of the heavy elements including all actinides are produced in r-process nucleosynthesis, whose sites and history remain a mystery. If continuously produced, the Interstellar Medium is expected to build-up a quasi-steady state of abundances of short-lived nuclides (with half-lives ≤100 My), including actinides produced in r-process nucleosynthesis. Their existence in today's interstellar me...

Synthetic radionuclides, such as the transuranic actinides plutonium, americium, and curium, present severe health threats as contaminants, and understanding the scope of the biochemical interactions involved in actinide transport is instrumental in managing human contamination. Here we show that siderocalin, a mammalian siderophore-binding protein from the lipocalin family, specifically binds ...

We examined the ability of a halophilic bacterium (WFP 1A) isolated from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site to accumulate uranium in order to determine the potential for biocolloid facilitated actinide transport. The bacterial cell Surface functional groups involved in the complexation of the actinide were determined by titration. Uranium, added as uran y] nitrate, was removed from sol...

Understanding the electronic properties of actinide oxides under pressure poses a great challenge for experimental and theoretical studies. Here, we investigate the electronic structure of cubic phase uranium dioxide at different volumes using a combination of density functional theory and dynamical mean-field theory. The ab initio calculations predict an orbital-selective insulator-metal trans...

Speciation of actinide in natural aquatic system is of great interest for the safety assessment of a nuclear waste disposal in deep geological system [1]. Actinide ions form complicate complexes with various ligands such as OH, CO3, and humic substances in groundwater. These complexes can enhance or reduce the migration of actinide elements. The direct speciation of these complexes in groundwat...