Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:27:13.989Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Uranium Redistribution and Fixation During Chlorite Weathering at Koongarra, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Takashi Murakami ,
Hiroshi Isobe ,
Tetsushi Nagano  and
Satoru Nakashima
Takashi Murakami
Affiliation:
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-11, Japan
Hiroshi Isobe
Affiliation:
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-11, Japan
Tetsushi Nagano
Affiliation:
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Ibaraki 319-11, Japan
Satoru Nakashima
Affiliation:
Akita University, Akita, Akita 010, Japan
Get access

Abstract

The chemical forms of iron minerals and uranyl species have been examined non-destructively by visible microspectroscopy and electron microprobe analysis in order to obtain a better understanding of uranium redistribution and fixation mechanisms. The uranyl species are associated with sub-micron sized iron minerals, such as hematite (Fe2O3), goethite (FeOOH), and ferrihydrite (Fe4-5(OH,O)12). Additionally, some uranium is fixed to goethite in weathered chlorite grains. Sub-micron sized saleeite, Mg(UO2)2(PO4)2. 1OH2O, is the most probable uranyl phase associated with the iron minerals. This suggests that the uranium fixation in the vicinity of the Koongarra uranium ore deposits is the result of the coprecipitation and sorption of microcrystals of saleeite on to the iron minerals released during weathering of chlorite.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 257: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XV , 1991 , 473
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Alligator Rivers Analogue Projects, 1st Annual Report 1988-89, edited by Duerden, P., Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, 146 p. (1990).Google Scholar
[2] Airey, P. L. and Ivanovich, M., Geochemical analogues of high-level radioactive waste repositories. Chem. Geol. 55, 203–213 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3] Murakami, T., Isobe, H. and Edis, R., Effects of chlorite alteration on uranium redistribution in Koongarra, Australia, Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XIV, 741–748 (1991).Google Scholar
[4] Snelling, A. A., Uraninite and its alteration products, Koongarra uranium deposit, in Proceedings of IAEA International Symposium Uranium in the Pine Creek Geosyncline, edited by Ferguson, J. and Goleby, A. B. (IAEA, Vienna 1980) pp. 487–498 Google Scholar
[5] Airey, P. L., Golian, C. and Lever, D. A., An approach to the mathematical modelling of the uranium series redistribution within ore bodies, Topical Report AAEC/C49, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney (1986).Google Scholar
[6] Edis, R., The redistribution of uranium series radionuclides at Koongarra, Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XIV, 727–732 (1991).Google Scholar
[7] Yanase, N., Nightingale, T., Payne, T. and Duerden, P., Uranium distribution in mineral phase of rock by sequential extraction procedure, Radiochim. Acta 52/53, 387–393 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8] Murakami, T., Ohnuki, T. and Sato, T., Kinetic analysis of chlorite alteration, Abstr. Fall Meeting of the Mineral. Soc. Japan (with English abstracts), Sendai (1991).Google Scholar
[9] Sekine, K., Ohnuki, T., Murakami, T. and Isobe, H., Migration behavior of uranium series nuclides in altered quartz-chlorite schist, in Alligator Rivers Analogue Projects, 1st Annual Report 1988-89, edited by Duerden, P., Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, 103–111 (1990).Google Scholar
[10] Payne, T. E. and Waite, T. D., Surface complexation modelling of uranium sorption data obtained by isotope exchange techniques, Radiochim. Acta 52/53, 487–493 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11] Nagano, T. and Nakashima, S., Study of colors and degrees of weathering of granitic rocks by visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Geochim. J. 23, 75–83 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[12] Nagano, T., unpublished work.Google Scholar
[13] Bell, J. T. and Biggers, R. E., J. Mol. Spectrosc. 18, 247–275 (1965), in Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry 8th Ed., Uranium, Supplement vol. A5, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[14] Nakashima, S., unpublished work.Google Scholar
[15] Payne, T. E., Davis, J. A. and Waite, T. D., Modelling of uranium sorption to substrates from the weathered zone in the vicinity of the Koongarra ore body, in Alligator Rivers Analogue Project 1st Annual Report 1988-89, Duerden, P. (Ed.), Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, 39-46 (1990).Google Scholar
[16] Schwertmann, U. and Murad, E., Effects of pH on the formation of goethite and hematite from ferrihydrite, Clays and Clay Minerals 3, 277–284 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar