Engineered sorbent barriers for low-level waste disposal.

Technical Report · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7012840· OSTI ID:7012840

Freeman, H D; Mitchell, S J; Buelt, J L

The Engineered Sorbent Barriers Program at Pacific Northwest Laboratory is investigating sorbent materials to prevent the migration of soluble radio nuclides from low-level waste sites. These materials would allow water to pass, preventing the bathtub effect at humid sites. Laboratory studies identifield promising sorbent materials for three key radionuclides: for cesium, greensand; for cobalt, activated charcoal; and for strontium, synthetic zeolite or clinoptilolite. Mixtures of these sorbent materials were tested in 0.6-m-diameter columns using radioactive leachates. To simulate expected worst-case conditions, the leachate solution contained the radionuclides, competing cations, and a chelating agent and was adjusted to a pH of 5. A sorbent barrier comprised of greensand (1 wt%), activated charcoal (6 wt%), synthetic zeolite (20 wt%), and local soil (73 wt%) achieved the decontamination factors necessary to meet the regulatory performance requirements established for this study. Sorbent barriers can be applied to shallow-land burial, as backfill around the waste or engineered structures, or as backup to other liner systems. 7 refs., 14 figs., 12 tabs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 7012840
• Report Number(s): PNL-6051; ON: DE87004053
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTIVATED CARBON
ADSORBENTS
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
BACKFILLING
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
CLINOPTILOLITE
COBALT 60
COBALT ISOTOPES
DATA
DISPERSIONS
ELEMENTS
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
EVALUATION
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INFORMATION
INORGANIC ION EXCHANGERS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ION EXCHANGE MATERIALS
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LEACHATES
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MINERALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
MIXTURES
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PH VALUE
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
SILICATE MINERALS
SOLUTIONS
SORPTION
SORPTIVE PROPERTIES
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
SURFACE PROPERTIES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ZEOLITES