Publications related to Nanoscale mechanism of UO2 formation through uranium reduction by magnetite

Atomic level insight into irradiation effects in nuclear fuel materials

Microstructural evolution during in-pile irradiation, radiation damage effects and fission products behavior in UO2 nuclear fuel are key issues in understanding and for the modeling of the performance as well as safety characteristics of nuclear fuels in t ...

EPFL2024

The isotopic signature of U(V) during bacterial reduction

Marinella Mazzanti, Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Radmila Faizova, Margaux Camille Andréa Molinas, Ashley Richards Brown

The two-step electron transfer during bacterial reduction of UVI to UIV is typically accompanied by mass-independent fractionation of the 238U and 235U isotopes, whereby the heavy isotope accumulates in the reduced product. However, the role of the UV inte ...

2024

Diagenetic isotope exchange in biocalcites for paleoclimate reconstruction

Deyanira Graciela Cisneros Lazaro

The oxygen isotope compositions of fossil biocalcites, such as foraminifera, bivalves, brachiopods, and belemnites have allowed for reconstructions of sea surface and deep ocean temperatures throughout the Phanerozoic and constitute the most important reco ...

EPFL2024

Implementing Multi-Electron Transfer Strategies in Uranium Chemistry

Dieuwertje Katelijn Modder

In the last decades, the activation of small molecules has attracted increasing attention for their use as cheap and abundant feedstock. Low-oxidation state uranium complexes have displayed high reactivity towards small molecules thanks to their unique pro ...

EPFL2023

A Route to Stabilize Uranium(II) and Uranium(I) Synthons in Multimetallic Complexes

Rosario Scopelliti, Marinella Mazzanti, Ivica Zivkovic, Dieuwertje Katelijn Modder

Herein, we report the redox reactivity of a multimetallic uranium complex supported by triphenylsiloxide (−OSiPh3) ligands, where we show that low valent synthons can be stabilized via an unprecedented mechanism involving intramolecular ligand migration. T ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2023

Mercury Isotope Fractionation during Dark Abiotic Reduction of Hg(II) by Dissolved, Surface-Bound, and Structural Fe(II)

Lorenz Schwab

Stable mercury (Hg) isotope ratios are an emerging tracer for biogeochemical transformations in environmental systems, but their application requires knowledge of isotopic enrichment factors for individual processes. We investigated Hg isotope fractionatio ...

Amer Chemical Soc2023

Biostimulation as a sustainable solution for acid neutralization and uranium immobilization post acidic in-situ recovery

Pierre Rossi, Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Thomas Coral

Major uranium (U) deposits worldwide are exploited by acid leaching, known as 'in-situ recovery' (ISR). ISR involves the injection of an acid fluid into ore-bearing aquifers and the pumping of the resulting metal-containing solution through cation exchange ...

2022

Multi-electron Transfer by U(II) and Masked U(II) Complexes

Marinella Mazzanti

Complexes of uranium in low oxidation state have shown the ability to activate non-reactive small molecules such as N-2. However, the multi-electron transfer required for such activation remains limited in uranium chemistry. Here, we review our recent rese ...

SWISS CHEMICAL SOC2022

Persistence of the isotopic signature of pentavalent uranium in magnetite

Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Barbora Bártová, Zezhen Pan

Uranium isotopic signatures can be harnessed to monitor the reductive remediation of subsurface contamination or to reconstruct paleo-redox environments. However, the mechanistic underpinnings of the isotope fractionation associated with U reduction remain ...

2022

Persistence of the isotopic signature of pentavalent uranium in magnetite

Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Barbora Bártová, Zezhen Pan

Original data pertaining to the manuscript 'Persistence of the isotopic signature of pentavalent uranium in magnetite' published in Environmental Science and Technology by Zezhen Pan, Yvonne Roebbert, Aaron Beck, Barbora Bartova, Tonya Vitova, Stefan Weyer ...

Zenodo2022

Phloem water isotopically different to xylem water: Potential causes and implications for ecohydrological tracing

Andrea Rinaldo, Paolo Benettin

The stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in xylem water are often used to investigate tree water sources. But this traditional approach does not acknowledge the contribution of water stored in the phloem to transpiration and how this may affect xylem wat ...

WILEY2022

Design, synthesis, reactivity, and magnetic properties of uranium based oxide and nitride complexes

Luciano Barluzzi

The activation of small molecules is a paramount challenge in modern chemistry. The use of cheap and abundant molecules such as N2, H2, CO2, or CO as energy supplies or as precursors for fine chemicals production is highly desirable. In particular, the onl ...

EPFL2021

Systematic investigations of uranium carbide composites oxidation from micro- to nano-scale: Application to waste disposal

Nhât-Tân Vuong

The production of radioisotope beams at the ISOLDE (Isotope Separator OnLine DEvice) facility at CERN is achieved by irradiating target materials (e.g. uranium carbides and metal foils) with protons. The materials are usually operated at temperatures above ...

EPFL2021

Insights into the microbial reduction of pentavalent and hexavalent uranium species by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Margaux Camille Andréa Molinas

Decades of uranium-related activities such as ore mining, nuclear power generation, weapon manufacture, storage of nuclear wastes, have contributed to the release of U in the environment. U occurrence is concerning, since in surface environments, U is typi ...

EPFL2021

Stepwise Reduction of Dinitrogen by a Uranium-Potassium Complex Yielding a U(VI)/U(IV) Tetranitride Cluster

Marinella Mazzanti, Ivica Zivkovic, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Luciano Barluzzi, Nadir Jori

Multimetallic cooperativity is believed to play a key role in the cleavage of dinitrogen to nitrides (N3-), but the mechanism remains ambiguous due to the lack of isolated intermediates. Herein, we report the reduction of the complex [K-2{[U-V(OSi((OBu)-Bu ...

2021

Synthesis, reactivity, and environmental relevance of uranyl(V) complexes

Radmila Faizova

Knowledge of fundamental chemical properties of all environmentally relevant uranium species is essential to understand environmental uranium mobility and develop novel remediation strate-gies. A myriad of uranium(VI) and uranium(IV) compounds has been stu ...

EPFL2020

Role of Iron Sulfide Phases in the Stability of Noncrystalline Tetravalent Uranium in Sediments

Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Luca Loreggian

Uranium (U) in situ bioremediation has been investigated as a cost-effective strategy to tackle U contamination in the subsurface. While uraninite was believed to be the only product of bioreduction, numerous studies have revealed that noncrystalline U(IV) ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2020

Development and verification of pin-by-pin homogenized simplified transport solver Tortin for PWR core analysis

Andreas Pautz, Petra Mala

Currently, the pin-by-pin homogenized solvers are a very active research field as they can, unlike the nodal codes, directly predict the local power, while requiring significantly less computational resources than the heterogeneous transport codes. This pa ...

2020

Ligand-Supported Facile Conversion of Uranyl(VI) into Uranium(IV) in Organic and Aqueous Media

Marinella Mazzanti, Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Farzaneh Fadaei Tirani, Radmila Faizova

Reduction of uranyl(VI) to U-V and to U-IV is important in uranium environmental migration and remediation processes. The anaerobic reduction of a uranyl U-VI complex supported by a picolinate ligand in both organic and aqueous media is presented. The [(UO ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2020

In Situ Biostimulation of Cr(VI) Reduction in a Fast-Flowing Oxic Aquifer

Rizlan Bernier-Latmani, Daniel Scott Alessi

Hexavalent chromium is among the most common and hazardous inorganic contaminants in soils and groundwater. A promising in situ bioremediation approach is the delivery of electron donors to stimulate microbially mediated Cr(VI) reduction, producing relativ ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2020