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The Use of Natural Radionuclides to Predict the Behavior of Radwaste Radionuclides In Far-Field Aquifers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

N. Hubbard ,
J. C. Laul  and
R. W. Perkins
N. Hubbard
Affiliation:
Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio 43201
J. C. Laul
Affiliation:
Battelle-Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington 99352
R. W. Perkins
Affiliation:
Battelle-Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington 99352
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Abstract

In appropriate aquifers the natural radionuclides of the U and Th decay series are important sources of information about the behavior of radwaste radionuclides in far-field aquifers. The Wolfcamp Carbonate, Pennsylvanian Carbonate and Granite Wash aquifers in the Palo Duro Basin of the Texas Panhandle are prime examples of such aquifers. Sampling and analysis for key radionuclides in the ground waters of these aquifers are quite feasible and have been accomplished. Key early results are: (1) Ra does not appear to be retarded by sorption, (2) Th appears to be strongly sorbed, (3) kinetics seem to be different on time scales of days to months than on ones of hundreds of thousands of years, and (4) U and Th behave similarily when the time scales (half-lives) are similar, leading to the suggestion that uranium is in the +4 valence state in these aquifers.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 26: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VII , 1983 , 891
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1984

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References

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