Reduction of radiostrontium mobility in acid soils by carbonate treatment
Development of chemical treatments to immobilize /sup 90/Sr in soil to prevent its leaching from radioactive waste disposed in shallow land burial sites is highly desirable. Six in situ carbonate-precipitating treatments, varying the amounts of carbonate, alkaline earth cation (Ca or Ba as chlorides), and order of addition were examined for their ability to immobilize radiostrontium in laboratory soil columns. The Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/-followed by CaCl/sub 2/-treatment was most consistently successful at reducing the leachability of radiostrontium by 0.05M CaCl/sub 2/ from three low organic matter-acid soils, immobilizing as much as 53% of added radiostrontium. For the high organic matter-slightly acid soil, Na/sub 2/CO/sub 3/ alone, without supplemental Ca or Ba, resulted in the best immobilization (39%); dissolution of soil organic matter and the alkalinity-induced aggregate dispersion probably interfered with CaCO/sub 3/ and/or BaCO/sub 3/ precipitation. Success of the treatments is based primarily on their ability to generate, in situ, Ca(Sr,Mg)CO/sub 3/ or Ba(Ca,Mg,Sr)CO/sub 3/ precipitates that exchange radiostrontium very slowly with eluting Ca ions. Allied tests with /sup 137/Cs, which is commonly codisposed with /sup 90/Sr, indicated that the treatments describe did not interfere with the natural tendency of the selected soils to fix /sup 137/Cs strongly.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-26
- OSTI ID:
- 7008852
- Journal Information:
- J. Environ. Qual.; (United States), Journal Name: J. Environ. Qual.; (United States) Vol. 13:1; ISSN JEVQA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Chemical treatments of soil to decrease radiostrontium leachability
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Related Subjects
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Soil-- (-1987)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CALCIUM CHLORIDES
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM HALIDES
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DISSOLUTION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INHIBITION
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ION EXCHANGE
ISOTOPES
LEACHING
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MOBILITY
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES