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Sanyal SK, Etschmann B, Hore SB, Shuster J, Brugger J. Microbial adaptations and biogeochemical cycling of uranium in polymetallic tailings. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2024; 465:133334. [PMID: 38154188 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.133334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023]
Abstract
Microorganisms inhabiting uranium (U)-rich environments have specific physiological and biochemical coping mechanisms to deal with U toxicity, and thereby play a crucial role in the U biogeochemical cycling as well as associated heavy metals. We investigated the diversity and functional capabilities of indigenous bacterial communities inhabiting historic U- and Rare-Earth-Elements-rich polymetallic tailings from the Mount Painter Inlier, Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Bacterial diversity profiling identified Actinobacteria as the predominant phylum in all samples. GeoChip analyses revealed the presence of diverse functional genes associated with biogenic element cycling, metal homeostasis/resistance, stress response, and secondary metabolism. The high abundance of metal-resistance and stress-tolerance genes indicates the adaptation of bacterial communities to the "harsh" environmental (metal-rich and semi-arid) conditions of the Northern Flinders Ranges. Additionally, a viable bacterial consortium was enriched from polymetallic tailings. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that the consortium scrubbed uranyl from solution by precipitating a uranyl phosphate biomineral (chernikovite), thus contributing to U biogeochemical cycling. These specialised microbial communities reflect the high specificity of the mineralogy/geochemistry, and biogeography of these U-rich settings. This study provides the fundamental knowledge to develop future applications in securing long-term stability of polymetallic mine waste, and for reprocessing this "waste" to further extract critical minerals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santonu K Sanyal
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800 Australia.
| | - Barbara Etschmann
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800 Australia
| | - Stephen B Hore
- Geological Survey of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia
| | - Jeremiah Shuster
- Department of Earth Sciences, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Joël Brugger
- School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800 Australia.
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Sekudewicz I, Syczewski M, Rohovec J, Matoušková Š, Kowalewska U, Blukis R, Geibert W, Stimac I, Gąsiorowski M. Geochemical behavior of heavy metals and radionuclides in a pit lake affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) in the Muskau Arch (Poland). THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 908:168245. [PMID: 37918728 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
Pit lakes in the 'anthropogenic lake district' in the Muskau Arch (western Poland; central Europe) are strongly affected by acid mine drainage (AMD). The studied acidic pit lake, ŁK-61 (pH <3), is also exposed to floods due to its location in the flood hazard area, which may significantly influence the geochemical behavior of elements. The elemental compositions of water and lake sediment samples were measured with ICP-OES and ICP-MS. The sediment profile was also examined for 137Cs and 210Po activity concentrations using gamma and alpha spectrometry, respectively. Grain size distribution, mineralogical composition, diatoms, and organic matter content in the collected core were also determined. The key factors responsible for the distribution of selected heavy metals (e.g., Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) and radioisotopes (137Cs and 210Po) in the bottom sediments of Lake ŁK-61 are their coprecipitation/precipitation with Fe and Al secondary minerals and their sorption onto authigenic and allogenic phases. These processes are likely driven by the lake tributary, which is an important source of dissolved elements. The data also showed that the physiochemical parameters of Lake ŁK-61 water changed during an episodic depositional event, i.e., the flood of the Nysa Łużycka River in the summer of 2010. The flood caused an increase in the water pH, as interpreted from the subfossil diatom studies. The down-core profiles of the studied heavy metal and radionuclide (HMRs) contents were probably affected by this depositional event, which prevented a detailed age determination of the collected lake sediments with 137Cs and 210Pb dating methods. Geochemical modeling indicates that the flood-related shift in the physicochemical parameters of the lake water could have caused the scavenging of dissolved elements by the precipitation of fresh secondary minerals. Moreover, particles contaminated with HMRs have also possibly been delivered by the river, along with the nutrients (e.g., phosphorus and nitrogen).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilona Sekudewicz
- Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00818 Warszawa, Twarda 51/55, Poland.
| | - Marcin Syczewski
- Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Jan Rohovec
- Institute of Geology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 16500 Praha, Rozvojová 269, Czech Republic
| | - Šárka Matoušková
- Institute of Geology, Czech Academy of Sciences, 16500 Praha, Rozvojová 269, Czech Republic
| | - Urszula Kowalewska
- Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00818 Warszawa, Twarda 51/55, Poland
| | - Roberts Blukis
- Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung, Max-Born-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany
| | - Walter Geibert
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Ingrid Stimac
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Michał Gąsiorowski
- Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00818 Warszawa, Twarda 51/55, Poland
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Zhang B, Gao B, Ma W, Mo Z, Song Y, Xie S, Jiang F, Hu X. Adsorption of uranium(VI) by natural vermiculite: Isotherms, kinetic, thermodynamic and mechanism studies. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2023; 270:107305. [PMID: 37857022 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Revised: 09/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Human activities such as mining uranium resources, hydrometallurgy, and nuclear fuel preparation inevitably produce wastewater sludge containing radionuclides, posing a severe threat to the environment around the production site. Natural clay minerals have been widely used in groundwater pollution remediation because of their high cation exchange capacity. Through static batch experiments, the optimal pH range of vermiculite for U(VI) adsorption was 6-8,the maximum adsorption capacity was 1.62 × 10-5 mol g-1. The kinetic adsorption results indicated that the adsorption mode was mainly multilayer non-homogeneous chemisorption. In addition, the adsorption of vermiculite on U(VI) was found to be a heat absorption process according to the thermodynamic model fitting, and the spontaneous reactivity of U(VI) adsorption on vermiculite surface was positively correlated with temperature and negatively correlated with the initial concentration of U(VI). Combined with SEM-EDS and FT-IR results, the adsorption process of vermiculite on U(VI) is mainly an ion exchange and complexation reaction, and U(VI) is removed in the form of ≡ SUOU22+ or ≡ SOUO2OH, etc., by XPS means. The results of this study not only investigated the adsorption behavior and mechanism of natural vermiculite in groundwater contaminated with simulated uranium but also provided theoretical support for its feasibility in remediating uranium-polluted groundwater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Zhang
- School of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China
| | - Bai Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China; School of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China.
| | - Wenjie Ma
- School of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China
| | - Zifen Mo
- The Fifth Geological Brigade of Jiangxi Geological Bureau, Nanchang, 330013, China
| | - Yong Song
- Jiangxi Geological Bureau Non-Ferrous Geology Brigade, Ganzhou, 341000, China
| | - SiLei Xie
- School of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China
| | - FangRong Jiang
- School of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China
| | - XinWei Hu
- School of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China
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Sviridov AV, Maltsev GI, Timofeev KL. Adsorption of Metal Ions on Aluminosilicates. RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s0036024422120263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Cook M, Kleinschmidt R, Brugger J, Wong VNL. Transport and migration of plutonium in different soil types and rainfall regimes. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2022; 248:106883. [PMID: 35468420 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2022.106883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2021] [Revised: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Leaching and transport of contaminants is a complex interacting system affected by a suite of environmental factors. This study demonstrates the potential significance of weather events and moisture movement when interpreting plutonium (Pu) migration and advective transport in the soil matrix. Using a column transport experiment, two soil types, a sandy soil and clay-rich soil, were spiked with 238Pu as a tracer to observe the effect of simulated tropical and arid rainfall events on Pu mobility. Partition coefficients (Kd) were determined over a period of weeks and under varying rainfall rates to establish the impact of changing weather events on Pu mobility. The variability of these temporal Kds covers six orders of magnitude over a relatively brief time period. This demonstrates the necessity for non-static Kds to accurately describe Pu transport in these systems. The Pu Kds determined by these column transport experiments fall within the bounds of anticipated values (approximately 80-300,000 mL g-1) from immobile (magnitude 106 mL g-1) to moderately mobile (magnitude 101 mL g-1). The overall transport rate, shown by a decrease in calculated Kd, increases in environments where rainfall is more episodic, such as in arid regions as opposed to the consistently abundant rainfall in tropical regions. In contrast to the 238Pu spike, 239+240Pu resulting from contamination from nuclear tests in the sandy soil (aged for >30 years) showed higher mobility; we hypothesise that the ageing of the contamination, in particular Pu-bearing particles, accounts for this significant increase in Pu mobility. Low intensity, high frequency events in tropical sandy soil systems containing Pu particle contamination have the potential to mobilise Pu (>105 decrease in calculated Kd) over shorter periods of weeks, and not years as previously assumed. This increased mobility, when applied to radioecological models using Kd as a site-specific parameter, shows that there is likely to be a continued impact (risk quotient >1) on non-human biota in tropical sandy soil ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Cook
- School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment, Monash University, Australia.
| | - Ross Kleinschmidt
- Epic Environmental, PO Box 13058, Brisbane Queensland, 4003, Australia
| | - Joël Brugger
- School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment, Monash University, Australia
| | - Vanessa N L Wong
- School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment, Monash University, Australia
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Esan DT, Ajiboye Y, Obed RI, Ojo J, Adeola M, Sridhar MK. Measurement of Natural Radioactivity and Assessment of Radiological Hazard Indices of Soil Over the Lithologic Units in Ile-Ife Area, South-West Nigeria. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH INSIGHTS 2022; 16:11786302221100041. [PMID: 35645568 PMCID: PMC9134001 DOI: 10.1177/11786302221100041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The distribution of natural radioactivity levels of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in soils overlying the 3 lithologic units within Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria was investigated to characterize the gamma radiation dose distribution over the lithologies and to assess the radiation hazard due to the natural radionuclides. A thallium-doped cesium iodide detector was employed to determine the activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in 21 soil samples. The respective average concentrations of the 3 radionuclides are 37.7, 3.2, and 245.6 Bq kg-1 for granite gneiss, 31.9, 2.8, and 241.1 Bq kg-1 for banded gneiss, and 21.1, 1.7, and 196.7 Bq kg-1 for mica schist. The average concentration of 238U in granite gneiss lithology exceeds the world average value. The evaluated values of radiation hazard parameters including average absorbed dose rate, outdoor annual effective dose and external hazard index are below the recommended limits. The spatial distribution of the radiation hazard parameters evaluated over the lithologies has been delineated. The highest average cancer risk of 1.15 per 10 000 population was obtained for the study area within the soil overlying the banded gneiss lithology. Generally, the radiation hazard from the soils in study area poses no significant health hazard.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Rachel I Obed
- University of Ibadan Faculty of Science, Ibadan, Nigeria
| | - Joshua Ojo
- Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria
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Beaumais A, Mangeret A, Suhard D, Blanchart P, Neji M, Cazala C, Gourgiotis A. Combined U-Pb isotopic signatures of U mill tailings from France and Gabon: A new potential tracer to assess their fingerprint on the environment. JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS 2022; 430:128484. [PMID: 35739667 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Uranium milling activities have produced high volumes of long-lived radioactive processed wastes stored worldwide in near surface environment. The aim of this study is to highlight relevant tracers that can be used for environmental impact assessment studies involving U mill tailings. A multi-tracer study involving elemental content, 238U decay products disequilibria and stable Pb isotopes was performed in different types of U mill tailings (alkaline, acid, neutralized acid) collected from five Tailings Management Facilities in France (Le Bosc, L'Ecarpière, Le Bernardan, and Bellezane) and Gabon (Mounana). Our results showed that U and Pb concentrations range between 30 and 594 ppm and 66-805 ppm, respectively. These tailings have a strong disequilibrium of (234U/238U) and (230Th/238U) activity ratios (1.27-1.87 and 6-65, respectively), as well as higher 206Pb/207Pb (1.86-7.15) and lower 208Pb/207Pb (0.22-2.39) compared to geochemical background ((234U/238U) and (230Th/238U) equal to unity; 206Pb/207Pb = 1.20; 208Pb/207Pb = 2.47). In situ analyzes (SEM, SIMS) showed that Pb-bearing phases with high 206Pb/207Pb are related to remaining U-rich phases, S-rich phases and potentially clay minerals or oxyhydroxides. We suggest that the combination of the 206Pb/207Pb with the (234U/238U) ratio is a relevant tool for the fingerprinting of the impact of U milling activities on the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurélien Beaumais
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LELI, LETIS, USDR, PSE-SANTE/SESANE/LRSI, 31 Av. de la Division Leclerc, Fontenay-aux-Roses 92260, France
| | - Arnaud Mangeret
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LELI, LETIS, USDR, PSE-SANTE/SESANE/LRSI, 31 Av. de la Division Leclerc, Fontenay-aux-Roses 92260, France
| | - David Suhard
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LELI, LETIS, USDR, PSE-SANTE/SESANE/LRSI, 31 Av. de la Division Leclerc, Fontenay-aux-Roses 92260, France
| | - Pascale Blanchart
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LELI, LETIS, USDR, PSE-SANTE/SESANE/LRSI, 31 Av. de la Division Leclerc, Fontenay-aux-Roses 92260, France
| | - Mejdi Neji
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LELI, LETIS, USDR, PSE-SANTE/SESANE/LRSI, 31 Av. de la Division Leclerc, Fontenay-aux-Roses 92260, France
| | - Charlotte Cazala
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LELI, LETIS, USDR, PSE-SANTE/SESANE/LRSI, 31 Av. de la Division Leclerc, Fontenay-aux-Roses 92260, France
| | - Alkiviadis Gourgiotis
- Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/SEDRE/LELI, LETIS, USDR, PSE-SANTE/SESANE/LRSI, 31 Av. de la Division Leclerc, Fontenay-aux-Roses 92260, France.
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