The chemistry of plutonium solubility

Solubility experiments with plutonium were performed. Concentration measurements were made using both radiometrical (LSC and Alpha-spectrometry) and non-radiometrical (ICP-MS) methods. Much work was done on the production of speciation of different oxidation states of plutonium using electrochemistry or chemical separation methods. Finally, the theoretical framework was used to model experimental data from the literature. It was found that the plutonium solubility is controlled by a sorption mechanism. Furthermore, it was shown that Pu(OH)3 solubility data can be modeled using the solubility product of Pu(OH)4 and applying adequate redox potentials to the thermodynamic model.