Eleven-Year Field Study of Pu Migration from Pu III, IV, and VI Sources

• Published in: Environmental science & technology 2006-01, Vol.40 (2), p.443-448
• Main Authors: Kaplan, Daniel I, Demirkanli, Deniz I, Gumapas, Leo, Powell, Brian A, Fjeld, Robert A, Molz, Fred J, Serkiz, Steven M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biological and physicochemical properties of pollutants. Interaction in the soil; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Exact sciences and technology; Field study; Human exposure; Oxidation; Oxidation-Reduction; Plutonium; Plutonium - chemistry; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; Radioactive wastes; Sediments; Soil and sediments pollution; South Carolina; Waste disposal; Water Pollutants, Radioactive
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es050073o

Understanding the processes controlling Pu mobility in the subsurface environment is important for estimating the amount of Pu waste that can be safely disposed in vadose zone burial sites. To study long-term Pu mobility, four 52-L lysimeters filled with sediment collected from the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina were amended with well-characterized solid Pu sources (PuIIICl3, PuIV(NO3)4, PuIV(C2O4)2, and PuVIO2(NO3)2) and left exposed to natural precipitation for 2−11 years. Pu oxidation state distribution in the Pu(III) and Pu(IV) lysimeters sediments (a red clayey sediment, pH = 6.3) were similar, consisting of 0% Pu(III), >92% Pu(IV), 1% Pu(V), 1% Pu(VI), and the remainder was a Pu polymer. These three lysimeters also had near identical sediment Pu concentration profiles, where >95% of the Pu remained within 1.25 cm of the source after 11 years; the other 5% of Pu moved at an overall rate of 0.9 cm yr-1. As expected, Pu moved more rapidly through the Pu(VI) lysimeter, at an overall rate of 12.5 cm yr-1. Solute transport modeling of the sediment Pu concentration profile data in the Pu(VI) lysimeter indicated that some transformation of Pu into a much less mobile form, presumably Pu(IV), had occurred during the course of the two-year study. This modeling also supported previous laboratory measurements showing that Pu(V) or Pu(VI) reduction was 5 orders of magnitude faster than corresponding Pu(III) or Pu(IV) oxidation. The slow oxidation rate (1 × 10-8 hr-1; t 1/2 = 8000 yr) was not discernible from the Pu(VI) lysimeter data that reflected only two years of transport but was readily discernible from the Pu(III) and Pu(IV) lysimeter data that reflected 11 years of transport.