Chancellor Water Colloids: Characterization and Radionuclide Association

Abdel-Fattah, Amr I.¹ 

[1] Los Alamos National Laboratory

关键词: COLLOIDS;    ELECTRODYNAMICS;    FISSION;    RADIOISOTOPES;    SMECTITE;    SPECTROSCOPY;    TRANSPORT;    ULTRAFILTRATION;    VALENCE;    WATER;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1044090
RP-ID  :  LA-UR-12-22255
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1044090
Others  :  TRN: US1203441

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Concluding remarks about this paper are: (1) Gravitational settling, zeta potential, and ultrafiltration data indicate the existence of a colloidal phase of both the alpha and beta emitters in the Chancellor water; (2) The low activity combined with high dispersion homogeneity of the Chancellor water indicate that both alpha and beta emitters are not intrinsic colloids; (3) Radionuclides in the Chancellor water, particularly Pu, coexist as dissolved aqueous and sorbed phases - in other words the radionuclides are partitioned between the aqueous phase and the colloidal phase; (4) The presence of Pu as a dissolved species in the aqueous phase, suggests the possibility of Pu in the (V) oxidation state - this conclusion is supported by the similarity of the k{sub d} value of Pu determined in the current study to that determined for Pu(V) sorbed onto smectite colloids, and the similar electrokinetic behavior of the Chancellor water colloids to smectite colloids; (5) About 50% of the Pu(V) is in the aqueous phase and 50% is sorbed on colloids (mass concentration of colloids in the Chancellor water is 0.12 g/L); (6) The k{sub d} of the Pu and the beta emitters (fission products) between aqueous and colloidal phases in the Chancellor water is {approx}8.0 x 10{sup 3} mL/g using two different activity measurement techniques (LSC and alpha spectroscopy); (7) The gravitational settling and size distributions of the association colloids indicate that the properties (at least the physical ones) of the colloids to which the alpha emitters are associated with seem to be different that the properties of the colloids to which the beta emitters are associated with - the beta emitters are associated with very small particles ({approx}50 - 120 nm), while the alpha emitters are associated with relatively larger particles; and (8) The Chancellor water colloids are extremely stable under the natural pH and ionic strength conditions, indicating high potential for transport in the subsurface.