Special waste-form lysimeters: Arid

Conference · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:5695580

Jones, T L; Serne, R J

The release of contaminant from solidified low-level waste forms is being studied in a field lysimeter facility at the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State. Duplicate samples of five different waste forms have been buried in 10 lysimeters since March 1984. Waste-form samples represent three different waste streams and four solidification agents (masonry cement, Portland III cement, Dow polymer /sup (a)/, and bitumen). Most precipitation at the Hanford Site arrives as winter snow; this contributes to a strong seasonal pattern in water storage and drainage observed in the lysimeters. The result is an annual range in the volumetric soil water content from 11% in late winter to 7% in the late summer and early fall, as well as annual changes in pore water velocities from approximately 1 cm/wk in early spring to less than 0.05 cm/wk in early fall. Measurable quantities of tritium and cobalt-60 are being collected in lysimeter drainage water. Approximately 30% of the original tritium inventory has been leached from two lysimeters originally containing tritium. Cobalt-60 is present in all waste forms; it is being collected in the leachate from five lysimeters. The total amount released varies, but in each case it is less than 0.1% of the original cobalt inventory of the waste sample. Nonradioactive constituents contained in the waste form, such as sodium, boron, and sulfate, are also being leached.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5695580
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-15135; CONF-870859-30; ON: DE88005125
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALKALI METALS
ARID LANDS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BITUMENS
BORON
BUILDING MATERIALS
CEMENTS
COBALT 60
COBALT ISOTOPES
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LEACHATES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LYSIMETERS
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
MIXTURES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLYMERS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SEMIMETALS
SODIUM
SOLID WASTES
SOLIDIFICATION
SOLUBILITY
SOLUTIONS
STREAMS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE WATERS
TAR
TRITIUM
WASTE FORMS
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES