Colloid suspension stability and transport through unsaturated porous media
Abstract
Contaminant transport is traditionally modeled in a two-phase system: a mobile aqueous phase and an immobile solid phase. Over the last 15 years, there has been an increasing awareness of a third, mobile solid phase. This mobile solid phase, or mobile colloids, are organic or inorganic submicron-sized particles that move with groundwater flow. When colloids are present, the net effect on radionuclide transport is that radionuclides can move faster through the system. It is not known whether mobile colloids exist in the subsurface environment of the Hanford Site. Furthermore, it is not known if mobile colloids would likely exist in a plume emanating from a Low Level Waste (LLW) disposal site. No attempt was made in this study to ascertain whether colloids would form. Instead, experiments and calculations were conducted to evaluate the likelihood that colloids, if formed, would remain in suspension and move through saturated and unsaturated sediments. The objectives of this study were to evaluate three aspects of colloid-facilitated transport of radionuclides as they specifically relate to the LLW Performance Assessment. These objectives were: (1) determine if the chemical conditions likely to exist in the near and far field of the proposed disposal site are prone to inducemore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 493372
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-11565
ON: DE97053054; TRN: 97:012636
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- Resource Type:
- Technical Report
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Apr 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 05 NUCLEAR FUELS; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; POROUS MATERIALS; FLUID FLOW; RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION; COLLOIDS; STABILITY; HANFORD RESERVATION; RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT; REMEDIAL ACTION; RADIOISOTOPES; RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION; LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; GROUND DISPOSAL
Citation Formats
McGraw, M A, and Kaplan, D I. Colloid suspension stability and transport through unsaturated porous media. United States: N. p., 1997.
Web. doi:10.2172/493372.
McGraw, M A, & Kaplan, D I. Colloid suspension stability and transport through unsaturated porous media. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/493372
McGraw, M A, and Kaplan, D I. 1997.
"Colloid suspension stability and transport through unsaturated porous media". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/493372. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/493372.
@article{osti_493372,
title = {Colloid suspension stability and transport through unsaturated porous media},
author = {McGraw, M A and Kaplan, D I},
abstractNote = {Contaminant transport is traditionally modeled in a two-phase system: a mobile aqueous phase and an immobile solid phase. Over the last 15 years, there has been an increasing awareness of a third, mobile solid phase. This mobile solid phase, or mobile colloids, are organic or inorganic submicron-sized particles that move with groundwater flow. When colloids are present, the net effect on radionuclide transport is that radionuclides can move faster through the system. It is not known whether mobile colloids exist in the subsurface environment of the Hanford Site. Furthermore, it is not known if mobile colloids would likely exist in a plume emanating from a Low Level Waste (LLW) disposal site. No attempt was made in this study to ascertain whether colloids would form. Instead, experiments and calculations were conducted to evaluate the likelihood that colloids, if formed, would remain in suspension and move through saturated and unsaturated sediments. The objectives of this study were to evaluate three aspects of colloid-facilitated transport of radionuclides as they specifically relate to the LLW Performance Assessment. These objectives were: (1) determine if the chemical conditions likely to exist in the near and far field of the proposed disposal site are prone to induce flocculation (settling of colloids from suspension) or dispersion of naturally occurring Hanford colloids, (2) identify the important mechanisms likely involved in the removal of colloids from a Hanford sediment, and (3) determine if colloids can move through unsaturated porous media.},
doi = {10.2172/493372},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/493372},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1997},
month = {Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1997}
}