Neptunium-237, a byproduct of nuclear fuel, has been listed as a contaminant of concern by the Department of Energy. As an alpha-emitter with a half-life of 2.14 million years, the behavior of Np-237 in the environment is an important area of actinide study.The interaction between Np(V) and common minerals is being studied to gauge the impact of co-precipitation on environmental fate. Like uranium, neptunium can be present in multiple oxidation states. Np(V) is of specific environmental concern because it occurs under oxidizing conditions and is soluble in water.We compare the potential for calcite and gypsum to incorporate actinide contaminants--U(VI) and Np(V). The minerals share calcium as a common cation. Its presence in different coordinations allows us to investigate incorporation further based on steric constraints.Lessons learned from exploratory studies, synthesis technique for growing calcite and gypsum in aqueous solution, and recent results from ICP-MS will be discussed.

Comparative study of the Np(V) incorporation behavior of calcite and gypsum

244th National Meeting (2012)

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