Modeling of iodine radiation chemistry in the presence of organic compounds

An experimental, computational, and uncertainty analysis study of the rates of iodoalkane trapping by DABCO in solution phase organic media

NMR spectroscopy was used to measure the rates of the first and second substitution reactions between iodoalkane (R = Me, 1-butyl) and DABCO in methanol, acetonitrile and DMSO. Most of the reactions were recorded at three different temperatures, which permitted calculation of the activation parameters from Eyring and Arrhenius plots. Additionally, the reaction rate and heat of reaction for 1-iodobutane + DABCO in acetonitrile and DMSO were also measured using calorimetry. To help interpret experimental results, ab initio calculations were performed on the reactant, product, and transition state entities to understand structures, reaction enthalpies and activation parameters. Markov chain Monte Carlo statistical sampling was used to determine a distribution of kinetic rates with respect to the uncertainties in measured concentrations and correlations between parameters imposed by a kinetics model. The reactions with 1-iodobutane are found to be slower in all cases compared to reactions under similar conditions for iodomethane. This is due to steric crowding around the reaction centre for the larger butyl group compared to methyl which results in a larger activation energy for the reaction.

Radioiodine Biogeochemistry and Prevalence in Groundwater

¹²⁹I is commonly either the top or among the top risk drivers, along with ⁹⁹Tc, at radiological waste disposal sites and contaminated groundwater sites where nuclear material fabrication or reprocessing has occurred. The risk stems largely from ¹²⁹I having a high toxicity, a high bioaccumulation factor (90% of all the body's iodine concentrates in the thyroid), a high inventory at source terms (due to its high fission yield), an extremely long half-life (16M years), and rapid mobility in the subsurface environment. Another important reason that ¹²⁹I is a key risk driver is that there is uncertainty regarding its biogeochemical fate and transport in the environment. We typically can define ¹²⁹I mass balance and flux at sites, but cannot predict accurately its response to changes in the environment. As a consequence of some of these characteristics, ¹²⁹I has a very low drinking water standard, which is set at 1 pCi/L, the lowest of all radionuclides in the Federal Register. Recently, significant advancements have been made in detecting iodine species at ambient groundwater concentrations, defining the nature of the organic matter and iodine bond, and quantifying the role of naturally occurring sediment microbes to promote iodine oxidation and reduction. These recent studies have led to a more mechanistic understanding of radioiodine biogeochemistry. The objective of this review is to describe these advances and to provide a state of the science of radioiodine biogeochemistry relevant to its fate and transport in the terrestrial environment and provide information useful for making decisions regarding the stewardship and remediation of ¹²⁹I contaminated sites. As part of this review, knowledge gaps were identified that would significantly advance the goals of basic and applied research programs for accelerating ¹²⁹I environmental remediation and reducing uncertainty associated with disposal of ¹²⁹I waste. Together the information gained from addressing these knowledge gaps will not alter the observation that ¹²⁹I is primarily mobile, but it will likely permit demonstration that the entire ¹²⁹I pool in the source term is not moving at the same rate and some may be tightly bound to the sediment, thereby smearing the modeled ¹²⁹I peak and reducing maximum calculated risk.