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Plutonium interaction studies with the Mont Terri Opalinus Clay isolate Sporomusa sp. MT-2.99: changes in the plutonium speciation by solvent extractions

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Abstract

Since plutonium could be released from nuclear waste disposal sites, the exploration of the complex interaction processes between plutonium and bacteria is necessary for an improved understanding of the fate of plutonium in the vicinity of such a nuclear waste disposal site. In this basic study, the interaction of plutonium with cells of the bacterium, Sporomusa sp. MT-2.99, isolated from Mont Terri Opalinus Clay, was investigated anaerobically (in 0.1 M NaClO4) with or without adding Na-pyruvate as an electron donor. The cells displayed a strong pH-dependent affinity for Pu. In the absence of Na-pyruvate, a strong enrichment of stable Pu(V) in the supernatants was discovered, whereas Pu(IV) polymers dominated the Pu oxidation state distribution on the biomass at pH 6.1. A pH-dependent enrichment of the lower Pu oxidation states (e.g., Pu(III) at pH 6.1 which is considered to be more mobile than Pu(IV) formed at pH 4) was observed in the presence of up to 10 mM Na-pyruvate. In all cases, the presence of bacterial cells enhanced removal of Pu from solution and accelerated Pu interaction reactions, e.g., biosorption and bioreduction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the BMWi for financial support (contract no. 02E10618 and 02E10971), Velina Bachvarova and Sonja Selenska-Pobell for isolation of the bacterial strain, Monika Dudek fo strain cultivation, and the BGR for providing the clay samples. Thanks to Laura Lütke for valuable help in strain characterization and many fruitful discussions as well as Susanne Sachs and Katja Schmeide for help in preparing the Pu-242 stock solution.

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  1. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Institute of Resource Ecology, Bautzner Landstrasse 400, 01328, Dresden, Germany

    Henry Moll, Andrea Cherkouk, Frank Bok & Gert Bernhard

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  1. Henry Moll
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  2. Andrea Cherkouk
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  3. Frank Bok
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  4. Gert Bernhard
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Correspondence to Henry Moll.

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Moll, H., Cherkouk, A., Bok, F. et al. Plutonium interaction studies with the Mont Terri Opalinus Clay isolate Sporomusa sp. MT-2.99: changes in the plutonium speciation by solvent extractions. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 13497–13508 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8969-6

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