Advances in Plutonium Chemistry 1967-2000

This multi-authored volume documents the advances in understanding of plutonium chemistry over the more than thirty years since the publication of J. M. Cleveland's The Chemistry of Plutonium, the most recent authoritative volume solely devoted to this vitally important and topical field of study. Because the advances in plutonium chemistry span a great variety of subdisciplines and no one individual could write authoritatively on all aspects, an impressive roster of internationally recognized experts in plutonium science were assembled to author the chapters.

Chapter coverage includes the history and discovery as well as the use of plutonium, plus a summary of its currently known isotopes and their nuclear properties; the electronic structure of plutonium; redox and radiolysis reactions; organometallic and nonaqueous coordination chemistry; separations chemistry; environmental chemistry; plutonium in concentration solutions; plutonium in biological systems; crystalline solids and corrosion chemistry; glass, ceramics, and composites; and future directions. In addition to the detailed technical content, Darleane Hoffman, senior editor for the volume, provides a very thoughtful summary identifying the many opportunities as well as challenges that should be addressed in both the theoretical interpretations and the experimental investigations of the fundamental properties of plutonium. Hoffman points out that these continuing efforts will not only contribute to the solution of technological and societal problems of national and international importance but will advance the fundamental knowledge of the exceedingly complex and exciting science of plutonium and the other actinides.

Advances in Plutonium Chemistry 1967-2000 is intended as an authoritative and scholarly reference for the research chemist and for professors and upper-division undergraduate and graduate students in chemistry and related disciplines.

The hardcover volume contains a 1980 foreword authored by Glenn T. Seaborg for the ANS publication Plutonium Handbook, A Guide to the Technology; a preface; 10 detailed chapters; a closing chapter by Senior Editor Darleane Hoffman; and a subject index.