Study on the chemical forms of radionuclides in seawater-III complexes of60Co with amino acids

Stability constants were determined for⁶⁰Co (II)-amino acid complexes in sodium perchlorate media at an ionic strength=0.67, using cation exchange resins. Stability constants were, for Co(II)-phenylalanine, log ₁=4.4, log ₂=8.2, log ₃=11.7, for Co(II)-histidine, log ₁=7.4. for Co(II)-valine, log ₁=4.3, log ₂=8.5, for Co(II)-proline, log ₁=4.1, and for Co(II)-tyrosine, log ₁=7.2, respectively. The abundance of Co(II)-amino acid complexes in seawater was calculated from these stability constants on the basis of chemical equilibrium, assuming the concentration of individual amino acid to be 10^–7 to 10^–8 mol l^–1. It was inferred that the Co(II)-amino acid complexes are probably not formed abundantly in seawater while inorganic species of⁶⁰Co(II) may still be dominant for a short period of time after discharge into seawater as liquid waste.