Abstract
In the field of environmental control, the behavior of plutonium in various media and particularly in surface waters is relevant taking into account its radiotoxicity. Carbonate ions widely present in these media mainly complex pentavalent plutonium. In this field, CE-ICP-MS coupling, which was already used for actinides speciation, has been considered for the determination of thermodynamic constants associated to plutonium carbonate complexes.The study developed on plutonium (VI) allowed determining the stability constants at 25°C. From these values, the specific interaction coefficients based on the values recommended by the NEA have been reevaluated. The speciation diagram of Pu(VI) in aqueous carbonate solution has been established and shows the complexation of the plutonyl form by carbonates complex beyond pH=3.The works realized on the complexation of actinides (V) (Np and Pu) by carbonate ions at different temperatures allowed determining both the stability constants and the molar enthalpies and entropies of reaction. Experimentally, the analogy between neptunium and plutonium has been observed and allowed the determination of values which are more precise and consistent with those of the literature. For a better understanding of the plutonium behavior in surface waters, the determination of enthalpies and entropies has been necessary. The speciation diagrams established from these values show a near similarity in the chemical distribution of plutonium species without any further consideration of the analyzed surface water location.