Evaluation of soil washing for radiologically contaminated soils

Technical Report · Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10163686· OSTI ID:10163686

Gombert, D II

Soil washing has been applied internationally to decontaminate soils due to the widespread increase in environmental awareness manifested in the United States by promulgation of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, yet we continue to lack understanding on why the technique works in one application and not in another. A soil washing process typically integrates a variety of modules, each designed to decontaminate the matrix by destroying a particular phase or segregating a particle size fraction in which the contaminants are concentrated. The more known about how the contaminants are fixed, the more likely the process will succeed. Much can be learned from bioavailability studies on heavy metals in soils. Sequential extraction experiments designed to destroy one fixation mechanism at a time can be used to determine how contaminants are bound. This knowledge provides a technical basis for designing a processing strategy to efficiently decontaminate soil while creating a minimum of secondary wastes. In this study, a soil from the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory was physically and chemically characterized, then sequentially extracted to determine if soil washing could be effectively used to remove cesium, cobalt and chromium.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Co., Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-84ID12435
• OSTI ID: 10163686
• Report Number(s): WINCO-1211; ON: DE94014944; TRN: 94:013731
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: Mar 1994
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
SOILS
WASHING
SAMPLE PREPARATION
ENVIRONMENT
REMEDIAL ACTION
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
CONTAMINATION
EXTRACTION
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
EVALUATION
CESIUM
COBALT
CHROMIUM
052001
054000
540220
540230
400102
WASTE PROCESSING
HEALTH AND SAFETY
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
CHEMICAL AND SPECTRAL PROCEDURES