Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2026
Speciation and Bioavailability Measurements of Environmental Plutonium Using Diffusion in Thin Films
Published on: November 9, 2015
Uptake of trivalent actinides (curium(III)) by hardened cement paste: a time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy
Thorsten Stumpf1, Jan Tits, Clemens Walther
1Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, P.O. Box 3640, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany. thorsten.stumpf@ine.fzk.de
Abstract:
The curium(III) interaction with cement was investigated using time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy at trace concentrations. Four different Cm(III) species were identified: a nonfluorescing species which corresponds to curium hydroxide real colloids, which were characterized in detail by laser-induced breakdown detection (LIBD), a fluorescing Cm(III)/portlandite sorption species, and two fluorescing Cm(III)/calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) species. From the fluorescence emission lifetimes it is predicted that the two fluorescing Cm(III)/CSH species have one to two and no water molecules, respectively, left in their first coordination sphere, suggesting that these species are incorporated into the CSH structure.
