Dynamic interplay between uranyl phosphate precipitation, sorption, and phase evolution

Munasinghe, P. Sumudu; Elwood Madden, Megan E.; Brooks, Scott C.; Elwood Madden, Andrew S.

doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2015.04.008

Title: Dynamic interplay between uranyl phosphate precipitation, sorption, and phase evolution

Journal Article · Fri Apr 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Applied Geochemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2015.04.008· OSTI ID:1265483

Munasinghe, P. Sumudu ^[1]; Elwood Madden, Megan E. ^[1]; Brooks, Scott C. ^[2]; Elwood Madden, Andrew S. ^[1]

Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). School of Geology and Geophysics
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Division

We report that natural examples demonstrate uranyl-phosphate minerals can maintain extremely low levels of aqueous uranium in groundwaters due to their low solubility. Thus, greater understanding of the geochemical factors leading to uranyl phosphate precipitation may lead to successful application of phosphate-based remediation methods. However, the solubility of uranyl phosphate phases varies over >3 orders of magnitude, with the most soluble phases typically observed in lab experiments. To understand the role of common soil/sediment mineral surfaces in the nucleation and transformation of uranyl phosphate minerals under environmentally relevant conditions, we carried out batch experiments with goethite and mica at pH 6 in mixed electrolyte solutions ranging from 1–800 μM U and 1–800 μM P. All experiments ended with uranium concentrations below the USEPA MCL for U, but with 2–3 orders of magnitude difference in uranium concentrations.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1265483

Journal Information:: Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 58, Issue C; ISSN 0883-2927

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 19 works

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