Autoradiographic study of actinide sorption on climax stock granite

An autoradiographic technique that employed an arrangement for placing in firm contact Polaroid sheet film, a scintillator screen, and the radioactive face of a specimen was applied to a study of the sorption of americium, neptunium, plutonium, and uranium on Climax Stock granite under varying conditions of pH and Eh. Qualitative agreement was found between the sorption of americium on crushed, pure minerals and on the minerals comprising the specimen of Climax Stock granite. The observations also supported a mechanism for reduction of Np(V) to Np(IV) and Pu(VI) to Pu(IV) by Fe(II)-containing minerals. There was no evidence for reduction of U(VI) by the Fe(II)-containing minerals, although the uranium, assumed to be present as UO22+, appeared to be the only actinide species to exhibit sorption by a simple, cation-exchange mechanism at particular mineral sites. Some implications of these results for nuclear waste isolation are discussed briefly