Leaching of spent nuclear fuel in the presence of siderophores

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2009

Metal species that are dissolved in water can be transported in the environment, because they can be mobile. Microorganisms can affect metal mobility by excreting organic ligands with high metal affinity. Siderophores are organic ligands with high affinities for Fe 3+ . They are also able to form complexes with other metals such as actinides. Many countries plan to deposit spent nuclear fuel in deep geological repositories. Microorganisms are present in these subterranean environments and could potentially affect the repository. In this study, the effect of microbial siderophores on the dissolution behavior of two fragments of a spent nuclear fuel pellet was investigated. The commercial hydroxamate siderophore, deferoxamine mesylate (DFAM), and pyoverdin siderophores, isolated from cultures of Pseudomonas fluorescens (CCUG 32456A), were used. DFAM and lyophilized pyoverdins were dissolved in synthetic groundwater to final concentrations of 10 μM and 2.5·10 -2 g·L -1 , respectively. The fuel pellet fragments were kept in sealed pressure vessels at 10 bars of H 2 . The pyoverdin solution was first tested, followed by the DFAM solution and the pure synthetic groundwater. Samples were taken on 0, 1, 5, 9 and 14 days after changing the solution in the pressure vessels. The elemental composition of samples was analyzed by means of ICP-MS. The pyoverdin solution maintained significantly higher concentrations of Np and Pu than the pure synthetic groundwater. On the 14 th day the concentrations of Np and Pu in the pure synthetic groundwater were 0.01 nM and 0.13 nM, respectively, compared to 0.02 nM and 0.31 nM in the pyoverdin solution. Furthermore, spent nuclear fuel samples were observed to release Ru in the presence of both pyoverdin and DFAM. Hence, it seems that siderophores can form complexes with elements present in spent nuclear fuel. © 2008 Akadémiai Kiadó.