Plutonium Oxide Systems and Related Corrosion Products

Abstract

Elemental plutonium is considered to be one of the most complex elements in the periodic table and, by some, one of the more toxic, given its moderate radioactivity and that it is a heavy metal. Essentially a manuf actured element (only traces are found in nature), it was first discovered and produced some six decades ago. Amazingly, hundreds of tons of plutonium are pre sently in existence. Crystalline solids formed by plutonium and nonmetallic elements (e.g., hydrogen, oxygen, halides, etc.) were some of the first compounds investigated, and oxides and oxide-related materials have always been important compounds.