X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies of reactions of technetium, uranium and neptunium with mackinawite.

Technetium, uranium and neptunium may all occur in the environment in more than one oxidation state (IV or VII, IV or VI and IV or V respectively). The surface of mackinawite, the first-formed iron sulfide phase in anoxic conditions, can promote redox changes so a series of laboratory experiments were carried out to explore the interactions of Tc, U and Np with this mineral. The products of reaction were characterised using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Technetium, added as TcO4(-), is reduced to oxidation state IV and forms a TcS(2)-like species. On oxidation of the mackinawite in air to form goethite, Tc remains in oxidation state IV but in an oxide, rather than a sulfide environment. At low concentrations, uranium forms uranyl surface complexes on oxidised regions of the mackinawite surface but at higher concentrations, the uranium promotes surface oxidation and forms a mixed oxidation state oxide phase. Neptunium is reduced to oxidation IV and forms a surface complex with surface sulfide ions. The remainder of the Np coordination sphere is filled with water molecules or hydroxide ions.

An X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of neptunium(V) reactions with Mackinawite (FeS).

Neptunium is a transuranium element, produced in tonne quantities in nuclear reactors. Because it has access to a range of oxidation states, neptunium may undergo redox transformations in the environment and these can have far-reaching effects on its environmental mobility. Here, the reaction of NpO2+ (the soluble and thermodynamically stable neptunium species in oxic systems) with microcrystalline mackinawite is studied. Uptake of neptunium from solution is relatively low (approximately 10% of the total initially present in solution) and independent of initial solution concentration over the range 0.27-2.74 mM and of equilibration time. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) of the solid sulfide samples indicates nearest neighbor oxygen atoms at distances around 2.25-2.26 A, sulfur atoms at around 2.61-2.64 A, and two more distant shells fitted with iron, at 3.91-3.95 A and 4.15-4.16 A. These observations suggest that on interaction with the sulfide surface reduction of Np(V) to Np(IV) occurs, accompanied by loss of axial oxygen atoms. Neptunium coordinates directly to surface sulfide atoms, in contrast to the behavior previously observed for uranium under similar conditions. These results demonstrate the importance and variability of the speciation of redox sensitive actinides under anoxic conditions.