Amanda Bean

Poster Session Highlights

Structural Trends and Bonding of the 5f-Elements (U-Am) with the Oxoligand IO₃-

A. C. Bean,¹ B. L. Scott,¹ T. Albrecht-Schmitt,² and W. Runde¹

¹Los Alamos National Laboratory and ²Auburn University

To assess the environmental impact of transuranium elements (neptunium, plutonium, and americium) on nuclear waste repositories, scientists must better understand the solid-state chemistry of transuranium compounds. Researchers are particularly interested in how these elements might react with fission-product radionuclides, such as iodine-129 in its oxidized and reduced forms, such as the iodide (I-) or iodate (IO₃-) ions. Iodate is of particular interest for nuclear waste.

"We used a process known as hydrothermal synthesis (mineral synthesis in the presence of heated water) to produce single crystals, which we used to obtain crystal structures and Raman spectra of five novel transuranium iodates," said Amanda Bean of Los Alamos. "Our end goal was to look at the fundamental chemistry of these iodates for the first time."

The five transuranium iodates are as follows: NpO₂(IO₃)₂(H₂O), NpO₂(IO₃)2·H₂O, PuO₂(IO₃)₂·(H₂O), and two forms of Am(IO₃)₃. This research presents a vital first step in applying a synthetic approach to unraveling the structural properties of materials that contain the series of the light actinide elements. With such structural properties in hand, researchers will be better able to address issues related to long-term storage and disposition of nuclear materials.

NMT | LANL | DOE
Phone Book | Search | Help/Info

L O S  A L A M O S  N A T I O N A L   L A B O R A T O R Y
Operated by the University of California for the US Department of Energy