Plutonium hydrolysis reactions

The implication of these two examples is that the medium in which the Pu(IV) hydrolysis chemistry is studied has a strong bearing on the outcome of the results. In the past, we were content to treat the pure systems and either ignore external interferences (such as the atmosphere) or infer the behavior of mixtures (such as Pu + and U02 " ") based on the known chemistries of the individual species. The example of U02 + interactions with Pu(IV) polymer demonstrates that neither of these approaches is accurate. Therefore, future research efforts will necessarily have to consider plutonium hydrolysis reactions in more detail than has previously been done. 

A significant aspect of plutonium hydration is the increase with pH of hydrolysis reactions such as ... 

The mechanisms by which Pu(IV) is oxidized in aquatic environments is not entirely clear. At Oak Ridge, laboratory experiments have shown that oxidation occurs when small volumes of unhydrolyzed Pu(IV) species (i.e., Pu(IV) in strong acid solution as a citric acid complex or in 45 percent Na2Coj) are added to large volumes of neutral-to-alkaline solutions(23). In repeated experiments, the ratios of oxidized to reduced species were not reproducible after dilution/hydrolysis, nor did the ratios of the oxidation states come to any equilibrium concentrations after two months of observation. These results indicate that rapid oxidation probably occurs at some step in the hydrolysis of reduced plutonium, but that this oxidation was not experimentally controllable. The subsequent failure of the various experimental solutions to converge to similar high ratios of Pu(V+VI)/Pu(III+IV) demonstrated that the rate of oxidation is extremely slow after Pu(IV) hydrolysis reactions are complete. 

In studies where different oxidation states of plutonium have been complexed by the same ligand, the sequence of complex-ing strength most commonly observed is that described for the hydrolysis reactions i.e. ... 

Desire, Hussonnois and GuUlaumont (1969) determined stability constants for the species AnOH + for the actinides, plutonium(III), americium(III), curium (III), berkelium(III) and californium (III) using a solvent extraction technique. The stability constants obtained for americium(III) and curium(III) are two orders of magnitude larger than other similar data available in the literature. The stability constants of the lanthanide(III) and actinide(III) ions are very difficult to obtain using solvent extraction due to problems associated with attainment of maximum extraction into the solvent phase before the narrow band of pH between the onset of hydrolysis reactions and the precipitation of solid hydroxide phases. Consequently, the data of Desire, Hussonnois and GuUlaumont (1969) are not retained in this review. 

Plutonium(IV) polymer is a product of Pu(IV) hydrolysis and is formed in aqueous solutions at low acid concentrations. Depolymerization generally is accomplished by acid reaction to form ionic Pu(IV), but acid degradation of polymer is strongly dependent on the age of the polymer and the conditions under which the polymer was formed (12). Photoenhancement of Pu(IV) depolymerization was first observed with a freshly prepared polymer material in 0.5 HClOh, Fig. 3 (3 ). Depolymerization proceeded in dark conditions until after 140 h, 18% of the polymer remained. Four rather mild 1-h illuminations of identical samples at 5, 25, 52, and 76 h enhanced the depolymerization rates so that only 1% polymer remained after the fourth light exposure (Fig. 3). 

The various oxidation states of plutonium exhibit characteristic absorption spectra in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared regions. Each oxidation state is sufficiently distinct that its reaction can be monitored during hydrolysis and complex formation. Various research groups have studied the relationship between oxidation and absorption spectra (6-9). The absorption spectra may respond to complex formation or hydrolysis Nebel (10) has shown that the absorption peak of Pu(IV) shifts from 470 nm to 496 nm when Pu(IV) complexed with two molecules of citrate. 

As trivalent americium has a smaller ionic potential than the ions of plutonium it hydrolyses to a much lesser extent than the various plutonium ions. However, like Pu3+, hydrolytic reactions and complex formation are still an important feature of the aqueous chemistry of Am3+. Starik and Ginzberg (25) have shown that Am(III) exists in its ionic form from pH 1.0 to pH 4.5 but above pH 4.5 hydrolysis commences and at pH 7.0 colloidal species are formed. The hydrolytic behaviour of Cm(III) resembles that of Am(III). 

The redox chemistry of the actinide elements, especially plutonium, is complex (Katz et al., 1980). Disproportionation reactions are especially important for the +4 and +5 oxidation states. Some of the equilibria are kinetically slow and irreversible. All transuranium elements undergo extensive hydrolysis with the +4 cations reacting most readily due to their large charge/radius ratio. Pu (IV) hydrolyzes extensively in acid solution and forms polymers. The polymers are of colloidal dimensions and are a serious problem in nuclear fuel reprocessing. 

As with uranium, the solution chemistry is complicated, owing to hydrolysis and polynuclear ion formation, complex formation with anions other than perchlorate, and disproportionation reactions of some oxidation states. The tendency of ions to displace a proton from water increases with increasing charge and decreasing ion radius, so that the tendency to hydrolysis increases in the same order for each oxidation state, th at is, Am > Pu > Np > U and M4+ > M02+ > M3+ > M02 simple ions such as Np02OH+ or PuOH3+ are known in addition to polymeric species that in the case of plutonium can have molecular weights up to 1010. 

Plutonium chemists use reaction (1) as the net reaction for reactions (2), (3), and (4). This is clearly documented in the Plutonium Handbook edited by Wick, and in Cleveland s book. The Chemistry of Plutonium. Reaction (1) is an accurate representation of an equilibrium and the equilibrium concentration quotient is the product of the quotients for reactions (2), (3), and (4). Therefore, it is correct to discuss equilibrium concentrations of Pu(IV), Pu(VI), and Pu(III), without Pu(V). Circumstances where the net reaction has not been properly considered are those where concentrations of oxidation states in solutions with low acidity are calculated without consideration of Pu(IV) hydrolysis and polymerization. The distributions of Pu oxidation states (including Pu(V) and Pu(IV) polymer in nitric acid systems) were reported in JINC 609 (1973), and Silver has not included... 

The first hydrolysis constant for plutonium(III), that is, the equilibrium constant for the reaction... 

Plutonium (IV) is the most readily hydrolyzed of the four oxidation states, but only the first hydrolysis constant is known with any confidence. For the reaction... 

Carbonate Complexes. Of the many ligands which are known to complex plutonium, only those of primary environmental concern, that is, carbonate, sulfate, fluoride, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, citrate, tributyl phosphate (TBP), and ethylenediaminetet-raacetic acid (EDTA), will be discussed. Of these, none is more important in natural systems than carbonate, but data on its reactions with plutonium are meager, primarily because of competitive hydrolysis at the low acidities that must be used. No stability constants have been published on the carbonate complexes of plutonium(III) and plutonyl(V), and the data for the plutoni-um(IV) species are not credible. Results from studies on the solubility of plutonium(IV) oxalate in K2CO3 solutions of various concentrations have been interpreted to indicate the existence of complexes as high as Pu(C03) , a species that is most unlikely from both electrostatic and steric considerations. From the influence of K2CO3 concentration on the solubility of PuCOH) at an ionic strength of 10 M, the stability constant of the complex Pu(C03) was calculated (10) to be 9.1 X 10 at 20°. This value... 

All early actinides from thorium to plutonium possess a stable +4 ion in aqueous solution this is the most stable oxidation state for thorium and generally for plutonium. The high charge on tetravalent actinide ions renders them susceptible to solvation, hydrolysis, and polymerization reactions. The ions are readily hydrolyzed, and therefore act as Bronsted acids in aqueous media, and as potent Lewis acids in much of their coordination chemistry (both aqueous and nonaqu-eous). Ionic radii are in general smaller than that for comparable trivalent metal cations (effective ionic radii = 0.96-1.06 A in eight-coordinate metal complexes), but are still sufficiently large to routinely support high coordination numbers. 

Hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is one of the most important reactions in the chemistry of plutonium in aqueous solutions. The tendency of plutonium ions to hydrolyze decreases in the order ... 

Tetravalent Pu hydrolyzes more readily than any other plutonium species. In hydrogen ion concentrations of less than 03 M, the hydrolysis is initiated by the reversible reaction... 

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