  Thermodynamic and structural properties of the tangent diatomic fluid are
studied in the framework provided by the Reference Interaction Site Model
(RISM) theory, coupled with a Modified Hypernetted Chain closure. The
enforcement of the internal thermodynamic consistency of the theory is
described in detail. The results we obtain almost quantitatively agree with
available or newly generated simulation data. We envisage the possibility to
extend the consistent RISM formalism to generic, more realistic molecular
fluids.
