Effects of humic substances on the migration of radionuclides: Complexation of actinides with humic substances. (6th progress report, project summary). Period covered: January 1994 - July 1994

The goal of the research project is to examine the complexation behaviour of actinide ions with humic substances and thermodynamically describe the binding based upon a simple complexation model. This program is a continuation of the activities of the colloid and complexation group (COCO) in the second phase of the EC-MIRAGE project. A number of different experimental methods are used to determine speciation. The metal ions examined are the trivalent lanthanides, UO22+, NpO2+, Am3+, and Cm3+. The project is divided into three tasks: Task 1: complexation reactions of actinide ions with well characterized reference and site-specific humic and fulvic acids, Task 2: complexation reactions with major cations in natural groundwaters; Task 3: validation of the complexation data in natural aquatic systems by comparison of calculation with spectroscopic experiment. Five European community laboratories participated in the program: Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique Fontenay-Aux-Roses and Saclay, Universitaet Mainz, Katolieke Universiteit Leuven, and Joint Research Centre, Ispra. The evaluated stability constants are similar for all laboratories when the same humic substance complexation model is applied. Humic acid is shown to reduce NpO2+ to Np4+, while no reduction of UO22+ is observed. Temperature effects are seen on the Np humate complex. Competition is observed between NpO2+ and Ca2+, but not between the trivalent lanthanides and Ca2+. No influence of humic acid purification on the evaluated stability constants is seen. Using the evaluated constants, calculations are conducted for natural water systems which indicate the trivalent actinide humate complex to be an important species. (orig.)