TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantifying particulate and colloidal release of radionuclides in waste-weathered hanford sediments
AU - Perdrial, Nicolas
AU - Thompson, Aaron
AU - LaSharr, Kelsie
AU - Amistadi, Mary Kay
AU - Chorover, Jon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - At the Hanford Site in the state of Washington, leakage of hyperalkaline, high ionic strength wastewater from underground storage tanks into the vadose zone has induced mineral transformations and changes in radionuclide speciation. Remediation of this wastewater will decrease the ionic strength of water infiltrating to the vadose zone and could affect the fate of the radionuclides. Although it was shown that radionuclide host phases are thermodynamically stable in the presence of waste fluids, a decrease in solution ionic strength and pH could alter aggregate stability and remobilize radionuclide-bearing colloids and particulate matter. We quantified the release of particulate, colloidal, and truly dissolved Sr, Cs, and I from hyperalkalineweathered Hanford sediments during a low ionic strength pore water leach and characterized the released particles and colloids using electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Although most of the Sr, Cs, and I was released in dissolved form, between 3 and 30% of the Sr and 4 to 18% of the Cs was associated with a dominantly zeolitic mobile particulate fraction. Thus, the removal of hyperalkaline wastewater will likely induce Sr and Cs mobilization that will be augmented by particulate- and colloidfacilitated transport.
AB - At the Hanford Site in the state of Washington, leakage of hyperalkaline, high ionic strength wastewater from underground storage tanks into the vadose zone has induced mineral transformations and changes in radionuclide speciation. Remediation of this wastewater will decrease the ionic strength of water infiltrating to the vadose zone and could affect the fate of the radionuclides. Although it was shown that radionuclide host phases are thermodynamically stable in the presence of waste fluids, a decrease in solution ionic strength and pH could alter aggregate stability and remobilize radionuclide-bearing colloids and particulate matter. We quantified the release of particulate, colloidal, and truly dissolved Sr, Cs, and I from hyperalkalineweathered Hanford sediments during a low ionic strength pore water leach and characterized the released particles and colloids using electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Although most of the Sr, Cs, and I was released in dissolved form, between 3 and 30% of the Sr and 4 to 18% of the Cs was associated with a dominantly zeolitic mobile particulate fraction. Thus, the removal of hyperalkaline wastewater will likely induce Sr and Cs mobilization that will be augmented by particulate- and colloidfacilitated transport.
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U2 - 10.2134/jeq2014.09.0388
DO - 10.2134/jeq2014.09.0388
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84929462010
SN - 0047-2425
VL - 44
SP - 945
EP - 952
JO - Journal of Environmental Quality
JF - Journal of Environmental Quality
IS - 3
ER -