Analyses of soils at commercial radioactive-waste-disposal sites. [Barnwell, SC; Richland, WA]

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6765565

Piciulo, P L; Shea, C E; Barletta, R E

Brookhaven National Laboratory, in order to provide technical assistance to the NRC, has measured a number of physical and chemical characteristics of soils from two currently operating commercial radioactive waste disposal sites; one at Barnwell, SC, and the other near Richland, WA. Soil samples believed to be representative of the soil that will contact the buried waste were collected and analyzed. Earth resistivities (field measurements), from both sites, supply information to identify variations in subsurface material. Barnwell soil resistivities (laboratory measurements) range from 3.6 x 10/sup 5/ ohm-cm to 8.9 x 10/sup 4/ ohm-cm. Soil resistivities of the Hanford sample vary from 3.0 x 10/sup 5/ ohm-cm to 6.6 x 10/sup 3/ ohm-cm. The Barnwell and Hanford soil pH ranges from 4.8 to 5.4 and from 4.0 to 7.2 respectively. The pH of a 1:2 mixture of soil to 0.01 M CaCl/sub 2/ resulted in a pH for the Barnwell samples of 3.9 +- 0.1 and for the Hanford samples of 7.4 +- 0.2. These values are comparable to the pH measurements of the water extract of the soils used for the analyses of soluble ion content of the soils. The exchange acidity of the soils was found to be approximately 7 mg-eq per 100 g of dry soil for clay material from Barnwell, whereas the Hanford soils showed an alkaline reaction. Aqueous extracts of saturated pastes were used to determine the concentrations of the following ions: Ca/sup 2 +/, Mg/sup 2 +/, K/sup +/, Na/sup +/, HCO/sub 3//sup -/, SO/sub 4//sup =/, and Cl/sup -/. The sulfide content of each of the soils was measured in a 1:2.5 mixture of soil to an antioxidant buffer solution. The concentrations of soluble ions found in the soils from both sites are consistent with the high resistivities.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 6765565
• Report Number(s): BNL-NUREG-31391; CONF-821107-1; ON: DE82016744
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
58 GEOSCIENCES
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ACID CARBONATES
ALKALI METALS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ANIONS
CALCIUM
CATIONS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMISTRY
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEDERAL REGION IV
FEDERAL REGION X
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
IONS
MAGNESIUM
MANAGEMENT
METALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POTASSIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
SOIL CHEMISTRY
SOILS
SOUTH CAROLINA
SULFATES
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
USA
WASHINGTON
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT