Chemical Thermodynamics of Americium

Book excerpt: This is the second volume in a series of critical reviews of the chemical thermodynamic data of those elements of particular importance in the safety assessment modeling of high-level radioactive waste storage and disposal facilities. The objective of these reviews is to provide a set of reliable thermodynamic data that can be used to describe the behaviour of these elements under conditions relevant for radioactive waste disposal systems and the geochemical environments. The present volume is a review of experimental data reported in the literature for americium. On a few occasions, where no data existed, comparisons and estimates were made based on experimental data on analog lanthanide elements. The basic philosophy was to develop a minimum set of solid phases and solution species of americium that would fit all experimental data being reviewed.