Nature Communications (Aug 2020)

Nanoscale mechanism of UO2 formation through uranium reduction by magnetite

  • Zezhen Pan,
  • Barbora Bártová,
  • Thomas LaGrange,
  • Sergei M. Butorin,
  • Neil C. Hyatt,
  • Martin C. Stennett,
  • Kristina O. Kvashnina,
  • Rizlan Bernier-Latmani

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17795-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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In anoxic environments, soluble hexavalent uranium is reduced and immobilized, however, the underlying molecular-scale reduction mechanism remains unknown. Here, the authors find that U reduction can occur on the surface of magnetite via transient U nanowire structures which collapse into ordered UO2 nanoclusters, which may have implications for understanding nuclear waste evolution and remediation of uranium contamination.