In the environment, Pu migration has been observed to occur with the colloidal fluid fraction, and often associated with minerals colloids.  However, the nature of the actinide-mineral association and its stability will govern the effectiveness of this colloid-facilited transport process over time and space. We summarize a number of experiments performed on goethite to elucidate the form, stability, and reversibility of sorption reactions and discuss whether these sorption phenomena can lead to kilometer-scale colloid-facilitated Pu transport, as has been reported from field sampling at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly Nevada Test Site) and elsewhere. Experimental data to be presented include Pu(IV), Pu(V) and Np(V) batch sorption experiments performed over a ten order of magnitude actinide concentration range (10-6~10-16 M) that examine sorption linearity, flow-cell experiments that examine sorption hysteresis and kinetics, and TEM/nano-SIMS data which examine the morphology of sorbed Pu and Np.Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Plutonium and neptunium sorption to goethite:  Affinity, morphology, and kinetics as a function of surface load

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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