With respect to the geologic repository, intrusion of groundwater has been considered as a major factor that can transfer radionuclides to the natural environment. Moreover, the migration of radionuclides in the natural groundwater system is significantly influenced by the interaction between the radionuclides and groundwater constituents. Among various hydrogeochemical reactions, hydrolysis is one of the major reactions that can affect the aqueous solubility of radionuclides. Therefore, a precise understanding of relevant chemical thermodynamic behavior is of cardinal importance for the reliable prediction of migration/retardation behavior of radionuclides in the natural groundwater system. The objective of the present work is to investigate the solubility behavior of Nd(OH)3(s) to provide relevant chemical thermodynamic data of Nd(III) as a chemical analogy of major radiotoxic elements such as Am(III) and Cm(III). All the experiments were performed with Ar gas-filled glovebox under inert atmospheric condition. The aqueous Nd(III) solution was prepared by dissolution of 0.5 g NdCl3·6H2O (Sigma-Aldrich) in 10 ml of deionized water. The Nd(III) solid phase was precipitated by dropwise addition of ca. 10 ml of 4 M NaOH (Sigma-Aldrich). The Nd(III) precipitate was identified to be crystalline Nd(OH)3(s) nanorod by using XRD and TEM. For the solubility experiment, the solid Nd(OH)3(s) was equilibrated at the pH range from 5.0 to 9.0 at 0.1 M NaCl condition. The total concentration of the Nd(III) was quantified by using UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy and ICP-MS after the phase separation. In the present work, the solubility behavior of the solid Nd(OH)3(s) phase was investigated by using colorimetric analysis. The chemical thermodynamic data obtained in this study are expected to enhance the reliability of solubility prediction for the trivalent lanthanides and actinides.

• Ranyeong Choi(Pusan National University (PNU))
• Jun-Yeop Lee(Pusan National University (PNU)) Corresponding author