Radiolytically-induced gas production in plutonium-spiked WIPP brine

摘要

Gas generation due to alpha particle deposition was investigated in four WIPP relevant brines; WIPP brine A, ERDA-6, DH-36 and G8-B. This was done by spiking each brine with plutonium-239 and periodically sampling the gas phase to determine the nature of the gaseous products and the rates of gas generation. The predominant gas generated radiolytically was hydrogen, with yields ranging from 0.6 to 1.5 molec/100 eV for the four brines tested. Plutonium (VI) was stable in two synthetic brines, WIPP brine A and ERDA-6 but was rapidly reduced in the underground collected brines DH-36 and G8-B, although most of the plutonium remained in solution.