Radionuclides desorption reactions

Radionuclide Sorption and Desorption Reactions with Interbed Materials from the Columbia River Basalt Formation... 

This equation can be used to describe one-dimensional transport of radionuclides through porous media (e.g. radionuclide elution curves from laboratory columns packed with interbed solids) assuming instantaneous sorption and desorption. Van Genuchten and coworkers have demonstrated the importance of using both sorption and desorption isotherms in this equation when hysteresis is significant. Isotherm data for sorption and desorption reactions of radionuclides with interbed materials are presented in this paper which can be used to predict radionuclide transport. 

The chapters of this volume are organized into sections that cover the chemical aspects that are important to understanding the behavior of disposed radioactive wastes. These aspects include radionuclide sorption and desorption, solubility of radionuclide compounds, chemical species of radionuclides in natural waters, hydrothermal geochemical reactions, measurements of radionuclide migration, solid state chemistry of wastes, and waste-form leaching behavior. The information in each of these sections is necessary to predict the transport of radionuclides from wastes via natural waters and thus to predict the safety of the disposed waste. 

Radionuclide transport in natural waters is strongly dependent on sorption, desorption, dissolution, and precipitation processes. The first two sections discuss laboratory investigations of these processes. Descriptions of sorption and desorption behavior of important radionuclides under a wide range of environmental conditions are presented in the first section. Among the sorbents studied are basalt interbed solids, granites, clays, sediments, hydrous oxides, and pure minerals. Effects of redox conditions, groundwater composition and pH on sorption reactions are described. 

The groundwater transport of radionuclides through waterbearing interbed layers in the Columbia River basalt formation will be controlled by reactions of the radionuclides with groundwater and interbed solids. These interactions must be understood to predict possible migration of radionuclides from a proposed radioactive waste repository in basalt. Precipitation and sorption on interbed solids are the principle reactions that retard radionuclide movement in the interbeds. The objective of the work described herein was to determine the sorption and desorption behavior of radionuclides important to safety assessment of a high-level radioactive waste repository in Columbia River basalt. The effects of groundwater composition, redox potential, radionuclide concentration, and temperature on these reactions were determined. 

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