Overview of the geochemical code MINTEQ: applications to performance assessment for low-level wastes. [Interaction of ground water with solidified low-level wastes]

Conference · Sun Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5352140

Graham, M J; Peterson, S R

The MINTEQ geochemical computer code, developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory, integrates many of the capabilities of its two immediate predecessors, WATEQ3 and MINEQL. MINTEQ can be used to perform the calculations necessary to simulate (model) the contact of low-level waste solutions with heterogeneous sediments or the interaction of ground water with solidified low-level wastes. The code is capable of performing calculations of ion speciation/solubility, adsorption, oxidation-reduction, gas phase equilibria, and precipitation/dissolution of solid phases. Under the Special Waste Form Lysimeters-Arid program, the composition of effluents (leachates) from column and batch experiments, using laboratory-scale waste forms, will be used to develop a geochemical model of the interaction of ground water with commercial solidified low-level wastes. The wastes being evaluated include power reactor waste streams that have been solidified in cement, vinyl ester-styrene, and bitumen. The thermodynamic database for the code is being upgraded before the geochemical modeling is performed. Thermodynamic data for cobalt, antimony, cerium, and cesium solid phases and aqueous species are being added to the database. The need to add these data was identified from the characterization of the waste streams. The geochemical model developed from the laboratory data will then be applied to predict the release from a field-lysimeter facility that contains full-scale waste samples. The contaminant concentrations migrating from the wastes predicted using MINTEQ will be compared to the long-term lysimeter data. This comparison will constitute a partical field validation of the geochemical model. 28 refs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5352140
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-13321; CONF-8509121-7; ON: DE85017908
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ALKYLATED AROMATICS
ARID LANDS
AROMATICS
BITUMENS
BUILDING MATERIALS
CEMENTS
CHEMISTRY
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DISSOLUTION
GEOCHEMISTRY
GROUND WATER
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LEACHING
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
M CODES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MONOMERS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
ROCK-FLUID INTERACTIONS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SIMULATION
SOLID WASTES
STYRENE
TAR
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
USES
VINYL MONOMERS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE FORMS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER