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Updated: Oct 19, 2025

Speciation and Bioavailability Measurements of Environmental Plutonium Using Diffusion in Thin Films
Published on: November 9, 2015
Formation of plutonium(IV) silicate species in very alkaline reactive media
Paul Estevenon1,2,3,4, Thomas Dumas1, Pier Lorenzo Solari5
1CEA, DES, ISEC, DMRC, Univ Montpellier, Marcoule, France. thomas.dumas@cea.fr.
Abstract:
Studying the speciation of Pu(IV) in very alkaline and silicate ion rich reactive media allowed identification of the formation of plutonium(IV)-silicate colloidal suspensions which were stable for months. These colloids were stabilized in aqueous solution for pH > 13 and for concentrations around 10-2 mol L-1. Successive filtration processes allowed evaluation of their size, which was found to be smaller than 6 nm. Their structural characterization by XAS evidenced that their structure was similar to those identified for the other tetravalent actinide-silicate colloidal systems like thorium, uranium and neptunium. Their formation could explain the increase of plutonium solubility usually observed in alkaline silicate-rich solutions and could affect the plutonium mobility as a result in contaminated sites or in other environmental permeable media.
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