Selenium biogeochemistry in reservoirs

Technical Report · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5727597

Cutter, G A ^[1]

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1. Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (USA). Dept. of Oceanography

Three reservoirs (Belews and Hyco in North Carolina and Philpott in Virginia) were sampled over a three-year period by Old Dominion University. Two additional reservoirs (Martin and Murval in Texas) were sampled by Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory. Total dissolved selenium, selenite, selenate, Se({minus}II+0), and organic selenide were determined in water samples from the lakes, their primary water inputs, and their outflows. Selenium speciation was also determined in suspended particulate matter, sediments, and plankton. Concentrations of total dissolved selenium are highest in reservoirs associated with power plants, and within these systems selenite is the dominant form of dissolved selenium. In control reservoirs (Philpott and Murval), Se({minus}II+0) is the predominant form of dissolved selenium. Within the sediments, elemental selenium and organic selenides are the dominant forms of particulate selenium. These speciation patterns can be attributed to the primary sources of selenium to the reservoirs (runoff into the control reservoirs and effluents from fly ash ponds into the power plant reservoirs) and to the biogeochemical processing of selenium within the reservoirs. The concentration and speciation of selenium in freshwater depends on selenium source (runoff and effluents), internal cycling in the water column (biotic uptake and regeneration, redox transformations), and output via sedimentation and water outflow. A non-steady state, geochemical computer model was developed to simulate this cycle and to allow predictions of how selenium concentration and speciation would change with time when a variable (e.g., ash pond input) was altered. 29 refs., 51 figs., 4 tabs.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (USA). Dept. of Oceanography
• Sponsoring Organization: EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5727597
• Report Number(s): EPRI-EN-7281-Vol.1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
COOLING PONDS
MONITORING
SELENIUM COMPOUNDS
BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
BIOLOGICAL MODELS
COAL-FIRED GAS TURBINES
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FRESH WATER
LEACHATES
MINERAL CYCLING
TOXICITY
CHEMISTRY
DISPERSIONS
ECOSYSTEMS
GAS TURBINES
GEOCHEMISTRY
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MACHINERY
MIXTURES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PONDS
POWER PLANTS
SOLUTIONS
SURFACE WATERS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
TURBINES
TURBOMACHINERY
WATER
WATER RESERVOIRS
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
220500 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Environmental Aspects
560300 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology