Plutonium migration in a rough single fractured granite

The insights into the transport mechanism of Pu in granite fractures are indispensable for a reliable safety-assessment of radioactive waste disposal sites. In this work, the study of transport behavior of Pu in a rough single fracture has been performed under different pH conditions. The results indicated that under strong acidic condition the sorption of Pu dominated by ion-exchange reaction is quite weak, reversible and not be affected by the change of flow rates, while under neutral condition the majority of Pu can be adsorbed onto granite surface, controlled by surface-complex reaction between Pu(OH)4(aq) and fracture surface hydroxyl groups.