The need to make available a comprehensive, internationally recognised and qualityassured chemical thermodynamic database that meets the modelling requirements for the safety assessment of radioactive waste disposal systems prompted the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) to launch in 1984 the Thermochemical Database Project (NEA TDB) and to foster its continuation as a semi-autonomous project known as NEA TDB Phase II in 1998. The RWMC assigned a high priority to the critical review of relevant chemical thermodynamic data of inorganic species and compounds of the actinides uranium, neptunium, plutonium and americium, as well as the fission product technetium. The first four books in this series on the chemical thermodynamics of uranium, americium, neptunium and plutonium, and technetium originated from this initiative.