Plutonium photochemical reduction

Aqueous plutonium photochemistry is briefly reviewed. Photochemical reactions of plutonium in several acid media have been indicated, and detailed information for such reactions has been reported for perchlorate systems. Photochemical reductions of Pu(VI) to Pu(V) and Pu(IV) to Pu(III) are discussed and are compared to the U(VI)/(V) and Ce(IV)/(III) systems respectively. The reversible photoshift in the Pu(IV) disproportionation reaction is highlighted, and the unique features of this reaction are stressed. The results for photoenhancement of Pu(IV) polymer degradation are presented and an explanation of the post-irradiation effect is offered. 

After observing the photochemical reduction of Pu(VI) and Pu(IV), it seems obvious that reaction (3) should be light-sensitive. However, it is not obvious how photons would affect the equilibrium concentrations of the plutonium species. The experimental results [3,4] are very interesting and are described below, but a complete explanation is yet to be developed. 

Other reactions observed for plutonium have been (1) the direct photochemical reduction of Pu(IV) using reductants such as formic acid, ethanol and hydrazine (8,9,10) in perchloric acid ... 

Irradiation also affects the course of more conventional separation processes. Visible and ultraviolet light have been found to affect plutonium solvent extraction by photochemical reduction of the plutonium (12). Although the results vary somewhat with the conditions, generally plutonium(VI) can be reduced to pluto-nium(IV), and plutonium(IV) to plutonium(III). The reduction appears to take place more readily if the uranyl ion is also present, possibly as a result of photochemical reduction of the uranyl ion and subsequent reduction of plutonium by uranium(IV). Light has also been found to break up the unextractable plutonium polymer that forms in solvent extraction systems (7b,c). The effect of vibrational excitation resulting from infrared laser irradiation has been studied for a number of heterogeneous processes, including solvent extraction (13). 

Although the redox potentials for aqueous solution indicate that uranium(IV) should reduce plutonium(IV), anions and other complexing agents can change the potentials sufficiently that uranium(IV) and plutonium(IV) can coexist in solution (25). Since one of the products of photochemical reduction of uranyl by TBP is dibutyl phosphate (DBP), which complexes plutonium(IV) strongly, experiments were done to test the photochemically produced urani-um(IV) solutions as plutonium(IV) reductants (26). Bench-scale stationary tests showed these solutions to be equivalent to hydroxylamine nitrate solutions stabilized with hydrazine (27). 

The photochemical reduction of a solution containing both uranium(VI) and plutonium(IV) is also of interest for reprocessing applications. Early experiments (12a) showed a significant reduction of plutonium(IV) by light in Purex-type process solutions. Since the quantum yield for plutonium redox reactions is about one-tenth that for uranyl reduction (7b,c) the most likely path of plutonium(IV) reduction in these experiments appears to have been by uranium(IV) or uranium(V) generated by photochemical reduction of uranyl by other components of the solutions. Further experiments in this area would be useful. 

The photochemical effects on four aqueous plutonium perchlorate solutions have been reported. The photochemical reductions of PuOl to PUO2 and of Pu to Pu were observed. A reversible photochemical shift in the equilibrium of the Pu disproportionation was also recorded and the equilibrium coefficient found to increase by a factor of three when the sample was irradiated. Light was found to increase the rate and extent of depolymerization of plutonium(iv) polymer. The preparation of the new plutonium-palladium phase Pu3Pds has been reported and the structure found to resemble that of Ga5Zr3. 

Burger and coworkers (5) in 1952 reported that some distribution coefficients for Pu022+ in organic-aqueous systems at lighted conditions were different from those observed for dark conditions, and those authors believed that some Pu022+ had been photochemically reduced. That reduction was confirmed by others (6) in 1965, and in 1969 a report suggested that most aqueous plutonium reactions were affected by light (7 ). 

Studies of actinide photochemistry are always dominated by the reactions that photochemically reduce the uranyl, U(VI), species. Almost any UV-visible light will excite the uranyl species such that the long-lived, 10-lt seconds, excited-state species will react with most reductants, and the quantum yield for this reduction of UQ22+ to U02+ is very near unity (8). Because of the continued high level of interest in uranyl photochemistry and the similarities in the actinyl species, one wonders why aqueous plutonium photochemistry was not investigated earlier. 

Goldstein, M Barker, J. J. Gangwer, T. A Photochemical Technique for Reduction of Uranium and Subsequently Plutonium in the Purex Process , BNL-22443 (1976). 

---