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Science 14 January 2000:
Vol. 287. no. 5451, pp. 285 - 287
DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5451.285
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Reports

Reaction of Plutonium Dioxide with Water: Formation and Properties of PuO2+x

John M. Haschke, 1* Thomas H. Allen, 2 Luis A. Morales 2

Results show that PuO2+x, a high-composition (x <= 0.27) phase containing Pu(VI), is the stable binary oxide in air. This nonstoichiometric oxide forms by reaction of dioxide with water and by water-catalyzed reaction of dioxide with oxygen. The PuO2 + H2O reaction rate is 0.27 nanomoles per meter squared per hour at 25°C; the activation energy at 25° to 350°C is 39 kilojoules per mole. Slow kinetics and a low lattice parameter-composition dependence for fluorite-related PuO2+x are consistent with a failure to observe the phase in earlier studies. Perplexing aspects of plutonium oxide chemistry can now be explained.

1 11003 Willow Bend Drive, Waco, TX 76712, USA.
2 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: haschketoo{at}aol.com

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
First-Principles Calculations of PuO2{+/-}x.
L. Petit, A. Svane, Z. Szotek, and W. M. Temmerman (2003)
Science 301, 498-501
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