Contaminant release from solidified radioactive wastes buried in unsaturated sediments: Lysimeter study
Journal Article
·
· Journal of Environmental Quality
- New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces, NM (United States)
A lysimeter facility has been used since 1984 to monitor the leaching of buried waste forms under natural, arid conditions. The facility includes 10 bare-soil lysimeters (183 cm diam. by 305 cm deep) containing buried waste forms solidified with Portland M cement, masonry cement, bitumen, and vinyl-ester styrene. From 1994 through 1992, an average of 45 cm of water (27% of area precipitation) have leached through the lysimeters. To date, tritium, {sup 60}Co, and {sup 137}Cs have been identified in the lysimeter leachate samples. From 1984 through 1992, >4000 pCi of tritium, representing 76 and 71% of inventory (not decay corrected), have been leached from the two waste forms containing tritium. Cobalt-60 (<0.1% of original Co inventories) has been found in the leachate from each of all six of the waste forms that originally contained >1 mCi of inventory. Mobile Co is believed to be chelated with organic compounds, such as EDTA, present in the waste. Trace amounts of {sup 137}Cs have occasionally been identified in leachate from two waste forms since 1991. Qualitatively, the field leaching results confirm laboratory studies, suggesting that tritium is readily leached from cement, and that {sup 60}Co is generally leached more from cement than from vinyl-ester styrene. These data suggest that empirical source-term models should predict leaching based on the amount of water flowing past the waste form, not based on time. 44 refs., 6 figs., 5 tabs.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 258976
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Environmental Quality, Journal Name: Journal of Environmental Quality Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 24; ISSN JEVQAA; ISSN 0047-2425
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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