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Updated: Jan 5, 2026
Speciation and Bioavailability Measurements of Environmental Plutonium Using Diffusion in Thin Films
Published on: November 9, 2015
A Novel Metastable Pentavalent Plutonium Solid Phase on the Pathway from Aqueous Plutonium(VI) to PuO2 Nanoparticles
Kristina O Kvashnina1,2, Anna Yu Romanchuk3, Ivan Pidchenko1,2
1Institute of Resource Ecology, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), PO Box 510119, 01314, Dresden, Germany.
Abstract:
Here we provide evidence that the formation of PuO2 nanoparticles from oxidized PuVI under alkaline conditions proceeds through the formation of an intermediate PuV solid phase, similar to NH4 PuO2 CO3 , which is stable over a period of several months. For the first time, state-of-the-art experiments at Pu M4 and at L3 absorption edges combined with theoretical calculations unambiguously allow to determine the oxidation state and the local structure of this intermediate phase.
