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Solubility of Plutonium in Water Containing Carbonate under Reducing Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Arvid Ödegaard-Jensen
Affiliation:
Department of Materials and Surface Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry Chalmers University of Technology
Yngve Albinsson
Affiliation:
Department of Materials and Surface Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry Chalmers University of Technology
Hans Nilsson
Affiliation:
Department of Materials and Surface Chemistry, Nuclear Chemistry Chalmers University of Technology
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Abstract

In order to investigate the dissolution of plutonium(III) under reducing condition and in a carbonate rich water solid phases of plutonium hydroxide and carbonate were made. The still wet solid phases were placed in vessels which contained 1 M NaClO4. The atmosphere in the vessels was either H2 or a mixture of H2 and 0.03% CO2.

The preliminary results shows that after some time the plutonium concentration in the solutions reached a value between 10−9 M and 10−7 M. The pH in the solutions is dependent of the atmosphere. In a pure H2 atmosphere the pH is changing over time whereas in the H2+CO2 atmosphere the pH stays between 7 and 7.5. At pH 8 the total carbonate concentration in the water was between 10−4 M and 10−3 M. This is the same order of magnitude as the ground water surrounding the proposed repository.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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References

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