{sup 13}C and {sup 17}O NMR binding constant studies of uranyl carbonate complexes in near-neutral aqueous solution. Yucca Mountain Project Milestone Report 3351

Abstract

Valuable structural information, much of it unavailable by other methods, can be obtained about complexes in solution through NMR spectroscopy. From chemical shift and intensity measurements of complexed species, NMR can serve as a species-specific structural probe for molecules in solution and can be used to validate thermodynamic constants used in geochemical modeling. Fourier-transform nuclear magnetic resonance (FT-NMR) spectroscopy has been employed to study the speciation of uranium(VI) ions in aqueous carbonate solutions as a function of pH, ionic strength, carbonate concentration, uranium concentration, and temperature. Carbon-13 and oxygen-17 NMR spectroscopy were used to monitor the fractions, and hence thermodynamic binding constants of two different uranyl species U0{sub 2}(CO{sub 3}){sub 3}{sup 4{minus}} and (UO{sub 2}){sub 3}(CO{sub 3}){sub 6}{sup 6{minus}} in aqueous solution. Synthetic buffer solutions were prepared under the ionic strength conditions used in the NMR studies in order to obtain an accurate measure of the hydrogen ion concentration, and a discussion of pH = {minus}log(a{sub H}{sup +}) versus p[H] = {minus}log[H+] is provided. It is shown that for quantitative studies, the quantity p[H] needs to be used. Fourteen uranium(VI) binding constants recommended by the OECD NEA literature review were corrected to the ionic strengths employed in the NMR study using specific ion interaction theory (SIT), and the predicted species distributions were compared with the actual species observed by multinuclear NMR. Agreement between observed and predicted stability fields is excellent. This establishes the utility of multinuclear NMR as a species-specific tool for the study of the actinide carbonate complexation constants, and serves as a means for validating the recommendations provided by the OECD NEA.