As the tools available become more precise and develop new\ncapabilities, discoveries arise that are surprising. Sometimes, this occurs by accident as\nhappened by scientists in Germany, Russia, and Sweden. The report [Ref. #1] indicate the scientists\nfound a chemically stable compound containing plutonium. Specifically, the team led by Kristina\nKvashnina at the Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf found that a compound containing\nplutonium in its fifth oxidations state can remain stable for \u201clong\u201d periods of\ntime. The team created nanoparticles of plutonium-oxide\natoms in different oxidation states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the most fundamental\nproperties of the chemical behavior of plutonium is the variety of its\noxidation states. The oxidation state is\ndefined by the number of electrons that are removed from the valence orbitals\nof a neutral atom. In the pentavalent\noxidation state, plutonium has three electr4ons in the 5f shell, leaving the 6d\norbitals empty. The oxidation state of plutonium determines its chemical\nbehavior and its reactivity.\u201d [Ref. 2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team observed the resultant particle structure using X-ray\nequipment at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. They found that the theory agreed with the\nrapid formation of the plutonium-oxide nanoparticles in its third, fourth, and\nfifth states. The sixth oxidation state\nproved to be different and appeared to have a two-step process that took some\ntime to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conclusion was that the time lengthening could be due to\na stable form of the fifth state. This\nhad not been observed experimentally before. \nTheoretically, if this is correct, it would be possible for the\nparticles could remain stable over months, which would be a major change in our\nunderstanding of the chemical properties of nuclear material, particularly\nnuclear waste. The team did additional\nexperimentation using high-energy resolution fluorescence and confirmed that a\nstable form of the fifth oxidation state has actually be observed. They further confirmed the compound\u2019s stability\nby drying it our of liquid suspension and measuring the absorption spectrum\nover time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what is the\nsignificance of a stable state of plutonium-oxide? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most significant issues facing the nuclear power industry is the disposal of \u201cspent\u201d radioactive material for reactors.\u00a0 Plutonium plays a prominent role in nuclear energy production as well as nuclear weapons.\u00a0 The development of storage methods for nuclear waste is challenging to say the least.\u00a0 With various materials capable of remaining radioactive for tens of thousands of years, the design of containment that will safeguard the material is difficult.\u00a0 There are ongoing studies on ways to mitigate the long-term effects of the radioactive material.\u00a0 This research may provide researchers a methodology to create nanomaterials that mitigate the effects of the radioactive materials by converting them into stable compounds.\u00a0 This work provides a new method of evaluating was to handle long-term storage of radioactive waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the tools available become more precise and develop new capabilities, discoveries arise that are surprising. Sometimes, this occurs by accident as happened by scientists in Germany, Russia, [..]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nano","category-nanotechnology-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. \n\u201cA Novel Metastable Pentavalent Plutonium Solid Phase on the\nPathway from Aqueous Plutonium(VI) to PuO2<\/sub> Nanoparticles \u201d https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/anie.201911637<\/a>\n<\/h5>\n\n\n\n