This salt forms violet crystals.

Plutonium(III) fluoride has the LaF3 structure where the coordination around the plutonium atoms is complex and usually described as tri-capped trigonal prismatic.

[3] A plutonium(III) fluoride precipitation method has been investigated as an alternative to the typical plutonium peroxide method of recovering plutonium from solution, such as that from a nuclear reprocessing plant.

[4] A 1957 study by the Los Alamos National Laboratory reported a less effective recovery than the traditional method,[5] while a more recent study sponsored by the United States Office of Scientific and Technical Information found it to be one of the more effective methods.

[6] Plutonium(III) fluoride can be used for manufacture of the plutonium-gallium alloy instead of more difficult to handle metallic plutonium.