On the Suitability of Lanthanides as Actinide Analogs

Conference · Fri Apr 11 04:00:00 EDT 2008

OSTI ID:941711

Szigethy, Geza; Raymond, Kenneth N

With the current level of actinide materials used in civilian power generation and the need for safe and efficient methods for the chemical separation of these species from their daughter products and for long-term storage requirements, a detailed understanding of actinide chemistry is of great importance. Due to the unique bonding properties of the f-elements, the lanthanides are commonly used as structural and chemical models for the actinides, but differences in the bonding between these 4f and 5f elements has become a question of immediate applicability to separations technology. This brief overview of actinide coordination chemistry in the Raymond group at UC Berkeley/LBNL examines the validity of using lanthanide analogs as structural models for the actinides, with particular attention paid to single crystal X-ray diffraction structures. Although lanthanides are commonly accepted as reasonable analogs for the actinides, these comparisons suggest the careful study of actinide materials independent of their lanthanide analogs to be of utmost importance to present and future efforts in nuclear industries.

• Research Organization: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: Chemical Sciences Division
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 941711
• Report Number(s): LBNL-1172E
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ACTINIDES
BONDING
CHEMISTRY
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
MONOCRYSTALS
POWER GENERATION
RARE EARTHS
STORAGE
STRUCTURAL MODELS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION