Polymeric Species of Pu in Low Ionic Strength Media

The US Government has declared that approximately 50 tons of plutonium is surplus to US needs and should be set aside for eventual disposition. The US is currently following a dual path for the disposition of this plutonium: immobilization and irradiation of mixed-oxide fuel. Some fraction of this plutonium material that is undesirable for use in mixed-oxide fuel will be immobilized in a titanate ceramic and disposed of in a geologic repository for high level waste. The reminder of Pu will be fabricated into mixed-oxide fuel and irradiated in domestic light-water reactors. The resulting spent fuel would also be disposed of in a geologic repository for high level waste. The proposed US repository would be at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. Plutonium present in the disposal forms, either ceramics or spent fuel, must remain isolated from the biosphere over the geologic repository regulatory performance period, which is currently 10,000 years. Contamination of the biosphere could result from slow dissolution of the disposal forms followed by transport of the dissolution products into the biosphere by flowing ground water. Measurable amounts of apparently soluble plutonium can be released if plutonium dioxide is exposed to water under some conditions. Furthermore, recent studies in Nevada near the Yucca Mountain Site revealed that plutonium, associated with the colloidal fraction of the groundwater, was detected over a kilometer from its source within 30 years after it was placed underground for a nuclear weapons testing. It was not clear whether plutonium was transported as an intrinsic plutonium colloid or as plutonium sorbed onto colloidal clay or zeolite particles