Behaviour of plutonium in the environment

Plutonium is one of the most toxic components of spent nuclear fuel and of nuclear wastes, which is characterized by very complex chemical behaviour both in engineering processes and under environmental conditions. As a result of the human activities, plutonium is released to the environment and its speciation depends, to a large extent, on the source and release scenario and also on the geochemical conditions. The most recent data about various sources of plutonium in the environment and its speciation are reviewed. The recent trends in the description of one of the most important processes in plutonium migration, i.e. , its sorption onto components of soils, rocks, colloidal particles of various origin, natural organic matter, etc. , are discussed.The bibliography includes 98 references. (review)