Taku Koyanagi

Study on the chemical forms of radionuclides in seawater—I

The stability constants for sulfate, chloride and hydroxide ions with cerium (III) in the solution at ionic strength of 0.67 have been determined by cation exchange method, the values ofΒ1 andΒ2 for sulfate complexes of cerium being 40±13 and 453±140, respectively and those for chloride complexes being 1.28±0.23 and 0.56±0.076, respectively. The values ofΒ1,Β2 andΒ3 for hydroxide complexes of cerium were (4.5±0.9)×107, (3.3±0.7)×1014 and (1.8±0.7)×1023, respectively.Using the above constants the ratios of individual chemical species of144Ce were calculated in a solution at ionic strength of 0.67 containing sulfate and chloride ions approximately the same as in seawater of 35 %. The result of calculation indicates that the dominant species of144Ce in this solution is Ce(OH)30 at pH 8.

A study on the chemical forms of radionuclides in seawater—II chloride and sulfate complexes of60Co

The apparent stability constants for chloride and sulfate ions with Co (II) at ionic strength of 0.67 were determined by the cation exchange method. The value of the stability constantβ1 for chloride ion with Co (II) ion was 0.79±0.055. The stability constantsβ1,β2 and β3 for sulfate ion with Co (II) ion were 12.0±0.27, 91.5±11.4 and l,110±250, respectively. The chemical species of Co (II) in seawater was estimated at the pH of 8.0 to be present as Co2+ (63%), CoCl+ (27%) and CoSO40 (8.6%) using the known value of dissociation constant of Co (II), and under the assumption that only major inorganic anions are responsible for the chemical equilibrium of Co (II).