Tiron-reductant extraction system for cleaning uranium-contaminated soil
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM (United States)
At Fernald, a former uranium reprocessing plant outside Cincinnati, 2 million cubic yards of soil have been contaminated with uranium. Unless this soil can be cleaned, it will have to be stored at a low-level waste site. Researchers are currently seeking ways of remediating this soil without harming the soil`s matrix. This work focused on developing a chelation extraction system to remove uranium from soil. Preliminary investigations of chelators indicated that tiron (1,2-dihydroxy-3,5-benzendisulfonic acid) is able to mobilize even highly insoluble forms of uranium. Coordination chemistry principles predict that when the predominate form of uranium in the Fernald soils, U(VI), is reduced to U(IV) confirmed that the extraction capabilities of tiron were greatly enhanced by the presence of reductants. By optimizing experimental parameters for the tiron-reductant system, the authors removed 99% of uranium deposited through product spills and 90% of uranium deposited as incinerator fall out. The tiron-reductant system provides a simple, efficient method for remediation of uranium contaminated soil.
- OSTI ID:
- 140961
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-930304--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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