 Plutonium like other actinides readily forms a dioxide plutonyl core (PuO2).In the environment, this plutonyl core readily complexes with carbonate as well as other oxygen moieties (OH−, NO2−, NO3−, and SO42−) to form charged complexes which can be readily mobile with low affinities to soil.PuO2 formed from neutralizing highly acidic nitric acid solutions tends to form polymeric PuO2 which is resistant to complexation.