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Title: Final Project Report: Release of aged contaminants from weathered sediments: Effects of sorbate speciation on scaling of reactive transport

Abstract

Hanford sediments impacted by hyperalkaline high level radioactive waste have undergone incongruent silicate mineral weathering concurrent with contaminant uptake. In this project, we studied the impact of background pore water (BPW) on strontium, cesium and iodine desorption and transport in Hanford sediments that were experimentally weathered by contact with simulated hyperalkaline tank waste leachate (STWL) solutions. Using those lab-weathered Hanford sediments (HS) and model precipitates formed during nucleation from homogeneous STWL solutions (HN), we (i) provided detailed characterization of reaction products over a matrix of field-relevant gradients in contaminant concentration, PCO2, and reaction time; (ii) improved molecular-scale understanding of how sorbate speciation controls contaminant desorption from weathered sediments upon removal of caustic sources; and (iii) developed a mechanistic, predictive model of meso- to field-scale contaminant reactive transport under these conditions.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Merced, CA (United States)
  3. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  4. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
University of California Merced, CA
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1052233
Report Number(s):
FINAL REPORT
DOE Contract Number:  
FG02-08ER64616
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Hanford; sediment weathering; caustic waste; strontium; cesium; speciation; reactive transport

Citation Formats

Chorover, Jon, O'Day, Peggy, Mueller, Karl, Um, Wooyong, and Steefel, Carl. Final Project Report: Release of aged contaminants from weathered sediments: Effects of sorbate speciation on scaling of reactive transport. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.2172/1052233.
Chorover, Jon, O'Day, Peggy, Mueller, Karl, Um, Wooyong, & Steefel, Carl. Final Project Report: Release of aged contaminants from weathered sediments: Effects of sorbate speciation on scaling of reactive transport. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1052233
Chorover, Jon, O'Day, Peggy, Mueller, Karl, Um, Wooyong, and Steefel, Carl. 2012. "Final Project Report: Release of aged contaminants from weathered sediments: Effects of sorbate speciation on scaling of reactive transport". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1052233. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1052233.
@article{osti_1052233,
title = {Final Project Report: Release of aged contaminants from weathered sediments: Effects of sorbate speciation on scaling of reactive transport},
author = {Chorover, Jon and O'Day, Peggy and Mueller, Karl and Um, Wooyong and Steefel, Carl},
abstractNote = {Hanford sediments impacted by hyperalkaline high level radioactive waste have undergone incongruent silicate mineral weathering concurrent with contaminant uptake. In this project, we studied the impact of background pore water (BPW) on strontium, cesium and iodine desorption and transport in Hanford sediments that were experimentally weathered by contact with simulated hyperalkaline tank waste leachate (STWL) solutions. Using those lab-weathered Hanford sediments (HS) and model precipitates formed during nucleation from homogeneous STWL solutions (HN), we (i) provided detailed characterization of reaction products over a matrix of field-relevant gradients in contaminant concentration, PCO2, and reaction time; (ii) improved molecular-scale understanding of how sorbate speciation controls contaminant desorption from weathered sediments upon removal of caustic sources; and (iii) developed a mechanistic, predictive model of meso- to field-scale contaminant reactive transport under these conditions.},
doi = {10.2172/1052233},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1052233}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}