An overview of the geochemical code MINTEQ: Applications to performance assessment for low-level wastes

Technical Report · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6820218· OSTI ID:6820218

Peterson, S R; Opitz, B E; Graham, M J; Eary, L E

The MINTEQ geochemical computer code, developed at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), integrates many of the capabilities of its two immediate predecessors, MINEQL and WATEQ3. The MINTEQ code will be used in the Special Waste Form Lysimeters-Arid program to perform the calculations necessary to simulate (model) the contact of low-level waste solutions with heterogeneous sediments of the interaction of ground water with solidified low-level wastes. The code can calculate ion speciation/solubilitya, 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 was upgraded preparatory to performing the geochemical modeling. Thermodynamic data for solid phases and aqueous species containing Sb, Ce, Cs, or Co were added to the MINTEQ 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 waste forms predicted using MINTEQ will be compared to the long-term lysimeter data. This comparison will constitute a partial field validation of the geochemical model.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6820218
• Report Number(s): PNL-6112; ON: DE87006590
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ADSORPTION
ALKALI METALS
ANTIMONY
CERIUM
CESIUM
CHEMICAL STATE
CHEMISTRY
COBALT
COMPILED DATA
COMPUTER CODES
DATA
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
GEOCHEMISTRY
GROUND DISPOSAL
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
LEACHING
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
M CODES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
METALS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RARE EARTHS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLUBILITY
SORPTION
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE FORMS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER