title: Colloid transport of plutonium in the far-field of the Mayak Production Association, Russia.
abstract: Sorption of actinides, particularly plutonium, onto submicrometer-sized colloids increases their mobility, but these plutonium colloids are difficult to detect in the far-field. We identified actinides on colloids in the groundwater from the Mayak Production Association, Urals, Russia; at the source, the plutonium activity is approximately 1000 becquerels per liter. Plutonium activities are still 0.16 becquerels per liter at a distance of 3 kilometers, where 70 to 90 mole percent of the plutonium is sorbed onto colloids, confirming that colloids are responsible for the long-distance transport of plutonium. Nano-secondary ion mass spectrometry elemental maps reveal that amorphous iron oxide colloids adsorb Pu(IV) hydroxides or carbonates along with uranium carbonates.
authors.affiliation: Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexander P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Novikov
authors.forename: Stepan N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kalmykov
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Utsunomiya
authors.forename: Rodney C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ewing
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Horreard
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Merkulov
authors.forename: Sue B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Vladimir V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Tkachev
authors.forename: Boris F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Myasoedov