The worldwide civilian use of nuclear energy generates yearly about 11,000 tons of spent-fuel from 433 nuclear power plants (NPP) in operation for the moment with an installed capacity of approximately 350 GWe (36 NPP are being under construction). This contributes to the world electricity production about 17&percent;. The hitherto discharged spent-fuel is estimated to be around 220,000 tons, which contain about 1,400 tons of plutonium and a considerable amount of minor actinides and fission products. The total quantity of long-lived radioactive elements mostly actinides, increases steadily. The foreseeable solution for their isolation from the biosphere is a geological disposal with safe confinement. The long-term safety assessment of such containment entails well-founded knowledge on the aquatic chemistry of actinides, most of all, their thermodynamic properties in the geochemical environment. ©2000 American Institute of Physics.