Kinetic investigations on the reduction of plutonium(VII) in alkaline solutions

Reduction of Pu(VII) to Pu(VI) in various alkaline solutions ranging from 0.3 to 1.96 M at an ionic strength of 2 M has been kinetically investigated. The observed first order rate constant, ksub(obs) has been found to depend on [OH-]sup(-n) where n=1 and 2 when the concentration of hydroxide ion is in the range of 1 to 1.96 M and 0.3 to 0.62 M respectively. The activation energy (Esub(act)) of the overall reaction has been found to vary from 8 +- 0.4 kcal/mol to 29 +- 0.7 kcal/mol when the concentration of hydroxide ion varied from 0.5 to 1 M at the same ionic strength, μ=2 M. (orig./WL)