The OECD/NEA TDB review of selected organic ligands

Abstract

Summary Within the scope of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Thermochemical Data Base Project (TDB) a comprehensive review of selected organic ligands has been carried out by the authors. The selected ligands are oxalate, citrate, ethylenediaminetetraacetate (edta) and α-isosaccharinate (isa), and the elements considered in the review are U, Np, Pu, Am, Tc, Ni, Se and Zr, as well as the necessary basic data concerning protonation of the ligands and interactions with the major competing elements Na, K, Mg and Ca. This review on organic ligands showed that the pragmatic ionic strength correction procedure, the Specific ion Interaction Theory (SIT), chosen as the default method for all NEA TDB reviews, can be applied successfully also to organic ligands. The SIT interaction parameters derived from ligand protonation data for different media, e.g. NaCl and KCl, pass the consistency test when applied to other systems evaluated in the organics review, e.g. solubility data. Hence, the thermodynamic constants selected in this NEA TDB organics review can be used with some confidence in real world applications, provided that SIT is used in the speciation calculations.