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American Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science

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A Novel Application of Pourbaix Diagrams for the ad hoc Prediction of Thermodynamic Behavior of Plutonium in Aquatic Environments

American Journal of Environmental Engineering and Science
Vol.5 , No. 2, Publication Date: May 18, 2018, Page: 24-33

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Authors

[1]	Philip Chi-Wah Cheung, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.
[2]	Daryl Robert Williams, Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.
[3]	Donald Wilfrid Kirk, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

Abstract

This short narrative focuses on the essence of the electrochemical potential E_h vs. pH relationships of the simplest plutonium species in aquatic environments. Of the many oxidation states reported of plutonium, only those with potentials within the limits of stability of water are expected to be thermodynamically stable. More importantly, the sole purpose of this work is to demonstrate the ways in which the Pourbaix method can be deployed for preliminary prediction of the behavior of plutonium in a hypothetical waste disposal scenario in a lake. This work is not an encyclopedic review of the intricate aqueous chemistry of plutonium ever published (although excellent literature is available for this purpose), and is not meant to be read as such. This discourse, however, facilitates the understanding of the ways in which the pair of parameters E_h and pH determine oxidation states and therefore speciation. This is fundamental to the interpretation of more advanced research in aquatic ecosystems. (31 references from 1960 to 2018).

Keywords

Plutonium, Pourbaix Diagram, Radioactive Waste, Water Pollution

Reference

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