As geological waste disposal of high-level radioactive waste has considerable negative impact on the environment the recycling of nuclear fuels through solvent extraction processes to extract the remaining actinides is one of the most important strategies required for viable nuclear power in the future. The aim of this study was to establish the radiolytic stability of the extraction ligand DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) under TALSPEAK acidic pH conditions was first investigated through its reaction rate constant with the hydroxyl radical.   Specific rate constants were obtained over a range of pH conditions using thiocyanate competition kinetics. Based on literature pKa values and rate constant measurements at multiple pH's, rate constants for the species DTPA-H5, DTPA-H4- and DTPA-H32- of 2.69 x 109, 3.40 x 109 and 3.26 x 109 M-1 s-1 have been determined.   This approach was then used to elucidate the same kinetic parameters for Eu3+, Lu3+ and Gd3+ lanthanide metal-complexes.

Investigating the kinetics of the hydroxyl radical reaction with lanthanide complexed-DTPA

244th National Meeting (2012)

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