This comment addresses a systematic error in the potential energy surfaces of the title reactions presented in the original article by Alkorta et al. The NO3 radical has D3h symmetry in the electronic ground state while the M08HX functional employed in the original article predicts an incorrect C2v geometry and energy. By combining thermodynamic data for the OH + HNO3 → H2O + NO3 reaction with spectroscopic data and results from M08HX calculations on HNO3, H2O and the OH radical, the ground state NO3 radical energy is estimated to be 37 kJ mol-1 lower than reported for the C2v geometry.