Geological and physicochemical controls of the spatial distribution of partition coefficients for radionuclides (Sr-90, Cs-137, Co-60, Pu-239,240 and Am-241) at a site of nuclear reactors and radioactive waste disposal (St. Petersburg region, Russian Federation)

Influential factors of long-term and seasonal 137Cs change in agricultural and forested rivers: Temperature, water quality and an intense Typhoon Event

In this study, the effect of temperature, water quality, and the impact of an intense typhoon event on change in 137Cs concentration in the water of agricultural and forested rivers near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (Japan) was evaluated using monthly stationary observations obtained under baseflow conditions 2.8-10.6 years after the nuclear accident in 2011. The dissolved 137Cs concentration fluctuated seasonally with water temperature in all rivers, and the increase in dissolved 137Cs concentration for unit increase in temperature was higher in forested rivers than in agricultural rivers. The relationship between water temperature and the apparent distribution coefficient of 137Cs well followed the van 't Hoff equation in the two agricultural rivers, where the enthalpy of reaction was estimated as -15.6 and -19.6 kJ mol-1. The van 't Hoff equation was not well followed for a forested river, where the suspended solids mainly comprised organic matter, suggesting that the dominant process determining dissolved 137Cs concentrations in forested rivers is not only water temperature effect on ion exchange, but rather the input of 137Cs and K+ (competing with 137Cs for exchange sites on mineral particles) into the water phase via litter leaching. Suspended solids concentrations in agricultural rivers correlated negatively with 137Cs concentrations in suspended solids, suggesting an increased proportion of coarse particles or the input of soils with low 137Cs concentration from decontaminated agricultural land. At some sites, 137Cs concentrations in dissolved form and in suspended solids were reduced sharply in association with the passage of Typhoon Hagibis in October 2019, suggesting that Typhoon Hagibis caused large-scale surface erosion that removed the source of 137Cs.

Sorption behavior studies of Cs and its migration in soil samples around Visakhapatnam, India

Meeting the requirement of high specific activity of radioisotopes and carrying out comprehensive research and development activities in the nuclear field, different nuclear facilities, including their waste disposal facilities, are going to be operational at Visakhapatnam, India. Due to environmental processes, the engineered disposal modules may lose their structural integrity and may release some radioactivity to the geo-environment. The subsequent migration of radionuclides reaching the geological environment will be governed by the distribution coefficient (K_d). Cs was chosen for the sorption study in two soil samples (soil-29 and 31) and to estimate the K_d in all the 40 soil samples through the laboratory batch method at the new campus of DAE, Visakhapatnam, India. Different soil chemical parameters like pH, organic matter, CaCO₃, and cation exchange capacity were determined in 40 soil samples and their effect on Cs sorption was investigated. The effect of solution pH and initial concentration of Cs on sorption was also studied. The results show that the sorption of Cs increases with increasing pH. The Cs sorption was well explained by Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. Site-specific distribution coefficients (K_d) were also estimated and the values were found to vary from 75 ± 1 to 540 ± 12 L kg^-1. The observed wide variation in K_d could be due to large variations in the physico-chemical properties of collected soil. The competitive ions effect study suggests that K⁺ has higher interference for Cs⁺ sorption as compared to Na⁺. The present study results will help assess the environmental impact due to Cs release in any unforeseen scenario and in planning effective remediation strategies.

Soil-soil solution distribution coefficients of global fallout 239Pu and 237Np in Japanese paddy soils

²³⁹Pu and ²³⁷Np are long-lived radionuclides that emit alpha rays, and once released into the environment, they are present there for a long period of time. Therefore,²³⁹Pu and ²³⁷Np are important radionuclides in the safety assessment related to geological disposal of radioactive waste because of the possibility of long-term exposure to humans. Mobilities of these radionuclides in the environment are of particular interest; therefore, in this study, we have made the first-time determination of the soil-soil solution distribution coefficient (K_d, L/kg) using global fallout ²³⁹Pu and ²³⁷Np in soil. The K_d values were determined by extracting these radionuclides from 23 soil samples using a laboratory batch method. The desorption K_d values of ²³⁹Pu were found to vary from 3.2 × 10³ to 1.4 × 10⁵ L/kg, and their geometric mean (GM) and arithmetic mean (AM) were 2.3 × 10⁴ L/kg and 3.2 × 10⁴ L/kg, respectively. The desorption K_d values of ²³⁷Np ranged from 8.9 × 10² to 2.1 × 10⁴ L/kg, and their GM and AM were 4.1 × 10³ L/kg and 6.4 × 10³ L/kg, respectively. A comparison between the obtained K_d values of ²³⁹Pu and ²³⁷Np indicated that the former were about 6-fold higher than the latter in Japanese paddy field soils. Pearson's correlation analysis suggested that the main factors contributing to the sorption and desorption of Pu isotopes in Japanese paddy soils were related to the amounts of Fe and Mn oxides, while the sorption and desorption of ²³⁷Np in them would be controlled by an ion-exchange reaction, and/or complex-formation with organic matter, especially in Fluvisols.

Efficient adsorption of strontium by in-situ electrochemical synthesis of monohydric phosphate intercalated layered double hydroxides

In this study, in-situ electrochemical synthesis of monohydric phosphate intercalated layered double hydroxide was used to treat the simulated strontium-containing low-level waste liquids. The removal rate of Sr2+ was 99.24%...

Impact of soil organic matter on Pu migration in five Lithuanian surface soils

Pu distribution coefficient K_d variation was experimentally determined and examined in natural soil samples considering the type of soil, particle size, pH, the concentration of macroelements and organic matter content. This research was carried out with sand, silty sand, peat, clayey sand and clayey loam samples by applying ²³⁶Pu tracer in flow-through column tests. Due to relatively short contact time of 0.5-40 h the tests are considered as have not reached equilibrium state and represent the fast-moving contaminants retardation processes closer to field conditions. Every soil sample was fractionated into two particle size fractions: ≤0.25 mm and 0.25 ÷ 0.5 mm. Analysis revealed that K_d of Pu is higher for the smaller soil particle fraction (≤0.25 mm). The experimental study with 1.6, 4, 6 and 9 pH tracer solution revealed a tendency of elevated K_d when 4 pH and 6 pH solutions were applied, but obtained K_d values were not correlated with initial soil pH due to high buffering capacity of soils. This study shows a very significant influence (r = 0.98) of organic matter content on the Pu distribution coefficient. The K_d of Pu for the fine fraction of peat soil with high organic matter content (67%) reached maximum values of 6597 L/kg and 6200 L/kg when tracer solution was applied of pH = 4 and pH = 6, respectively. In comparison, the minimum K_d value of 3.9 L/kg was obtained for the coarse silty sand fraction with the lowest organic matter content of 1.3% at tracer pH = 1.6. A statistically reliable high correlations of r = 0.95 and 0.94 were also observed between K_d and specific soil elements Mg and Pb content in soils, respectively. The content of Fe in soils was significantly correlated (r = 0.67) with the K_d values of plutonium as well. However, the organic matter content in soils appeared to be the governing factor determining good correlations and causing the highest K_d of Pu values.

The status and trends in radioactive contamination of groundwater at a LLW-ILW storage facility site near Sosnovy Bor (Leningrad region, Russia)

The article presents results of field studies at a site of radioactive waste storage and disposal facilities (the so-called LD RosRAO site, Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad region, Russia). The objective of the study is to overview the history and occurrence of groundwater contamination to answer the question whether the radioactive plume is historical (formed due to accidents, which happened at the beginning of the operations with the radioactive waste) or the release of radioactive solutions to groundwater is still occurring. The main method used to study the evolution of radioactive contamination is to analyze long-term observations of tritium, total alpha, and total beta activities in groundwater samples. The role of the hydrogeological conditions of the site, such as flow parameters, groundwater flow pattern, inter-aquifer downward groundwater leakage, and water-table fluctuations, in the evolution of contamination plumes has also been analyzed. In the field investigations, the integrity of the storage buildings to potential leaks was confirmed by different indirect methods. It was concluded that there is currently no significant release of radioactive components into groundwater at the LD RosRAO site and that the present conditions correspond to the stage of rehabilitation of the groundwater environment.

Sorption of anthropogenic radionuclides onto river sediments and suspended solids: dependence on sediment composition

The purpose of the study is to explore the sorption behaviour of anthropogenic radionuclides in the Vltava River catchment in the Czech Republic, which could be influenced by an assumptive severe nuclear accident. Radionuclide sorption was described by distribution coefficients between water and sediment or suspended solids, respectively. Then, possible correlations between radionuclide sorption and sediment properties were investigated using simple and multiple regressions. The sorption of radionuclides was affected by sediment granularity and mineralogical composition, each radionuclide having its group of influencing sediment parameters.

Reactive transport in the complex heterogeneous alluvial aquifer of Fortymile Wash, Nevada

Yucca Mountain, Nevada, had been extensively investigated as a potential deep geologic repository for storing high-level nuclear wastes. Previous field investigations of stratified alluvial aquifer downstream of the site revealed that there is a hierarchy of sedimentary facies types. There is a corresponding log conductivity and reactive surface area subpopulations within each facies at each scale of sedimentary architecture. Here we use a Lagrangian-based transport model in order to analyze radionuclide dispersion in the saturated alluvium of Fortymile Wash, Nevada. First, we validate the Lagrangian model using high-resolution flow and reactive transport simulations. Then, we used the validated model to investigate how each scale of sedimentary architecture may affect long-term radionuclide transport at Yucca Mountain. Results show that the reactive solute dispersion developed by the Lagrangian model matches the ensemble average of numerical simulations well. The link between the alluvium spatial variability and reactive solute dispersion at different spatiotemporal scales is demonstrated using the Lagrangian model. The longitudinal dispersivity of the reactive plume can be on the order of hundreds to thousands of meters, and it may not reach its asymptotic value even after 10,000 years of travel time and 2-3 km of travel distance.