Plutonium(IV) peroxide formation in nitric medium and kinetics Pu(VI) reduction by hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

Reduction of plutonium (VI) to Pu(IV) with hydrogen peroxide is a step in industrial processes used to purify plutonium nitrate solutions. This operation must be carefully controlled, in order to avoid any formation of the Pu(IV) peroxide green precipitate and to obtain exclusively Pu(IV). This led us to study the acidity and Pu and H 2 O 2 concentrations influenceson the precipitate appearance and to perform a Pu(VI) reduction kinetic study on a wide range of acidities ([HNO 3 ]: 0.5 to 8 M), plutonium concentrations ([Pu(VI)]: 0.1 to 0.8 M) and [H 2 O 2 ]/[Pu(VI)] ratio (from 1 to 8). Thus, the domain of Pu(IV) peroxide formation and the reactional paths were established. With the exception of 0.5 M nitric acid medium, the kinetic curves show two distinct regims: the first one corresponds to an induction period where the Pu(VI) concentration doesn´t change, the second corresponds to a linear decrease of Pu(VI). An increase of the temperature greatly accelerates the Pu(VI) reduction rate while [H 2 O 2 ]/[Pu(VI)] has almost no influence. The Pu(VI) total reduction time decreases when initial concentration of plutonium increases. By increasing nitric acid concentration from 0.5 M to 6 M, the total Pu(VI) reduction time decreases. This time increases when [HNO 3 ] varies from 6 M to 8 M.