High-level waste glass field burial test: leaching and migration of fission products
In June 1960, 25 nepheline syenite-based glass hemispheres containing the fission products /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr, /sup 144/Ce and /sup 106/Ru were buried below the water table in a sandy-soil aquifer at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. Measurements of soil and groundwater concentrations of /sup 90/Sr and /sup 137/Cs have been interpreted using non-equilibrium migration models to deduce the leaching history of the glass for these burial conditions. The leaching history derived from the field data has been compared to laboratory leaching of samples taken from a glass hemisphere retrieved in 1978, and also to pre-burial laboratory leaching of identical hemispheres. The time dependence of the leach rates observed for the buried specimens suggests that leaching is inhibited by the formation of a protective surface layer. The effect of the kinetic limitations of the fission-product/sandy-soil interactions is discussed with respect to the migration of /sup 90/Sr and /sup 137/Cs over a 20 year time scale. It is concluded that kinetically limited sorption by oxyhdroxides, rather than equilibrium ion exchange, controls the long-term migration of /sup 90/Sr. Cesium is initially rapidly bound to the micaceous fraction of the sand, but slow remobilization of /sup 137/Cs in particulate form is observed and is believed to be related to bacterial action.
- Research Organization:
- Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba
- OSTI ID:
- 6011133
- Journal Information:
- Nucl. Chem. Waste Manage.; (United States), Vol. 5:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Demonstration of performance modeling of a low-level waste shallow-land burial site: A comparison of predictive radionuclide transport modeling versus field observations at the nitrate disposal pit site, Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories
THE DISPOSAL OF FISSION PRODUCTS IN GLASS
Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BOROSILICATE GLASS
LEACHING
WASTE-ROCK INTERACTIONS
CERIUM 144
CESIUM 137
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RUTHENIUM 106
SOILS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
STRONTIUM 90
AQUIFERS
CANADA
CHALK RIVER NUCLEAR LABS
FISSION PRODUCTS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
AECL
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CANADIAN ORGANIZATIONS
CERIUM ISOTOPES
CESIUM ISOTOPES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DISSOLUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
GLASS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE EARTH ISOTOPES
RARE EARTH NUCLEI
RUTHENIUM ISOTOPES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
053000* - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects
052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
510301 - Environment
Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- Soil- (-1987)