Geochemical and environmental processes affecting radionuclide migration from a formerly used seepage trench

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

The disposal of liquid waste, containing about 0.3 million curies (10 7 GBq) of fission nuclides, activation products, actinides and transuranics, in a shallow land seepage trench from 1962 to 1966, provided a field opportunity for investigating the chemical, geological, and hydrological processes which affect contaminant migration in soils and weathered bedrock. Gamma-log profiles of wells near the trench indicate that the waste liquids seeped along discrete layers parallel to bedding and along the strikes of faults and folds. Most of the radioactivity measured in the groundwaters consisted of 3 H, 99 Tc, 60 Co, and 233 U. The mobility of 99 Tc, 60 Co, and 233 U has been attributed to low molecular weight anionic complexing. Concentrations of 90 Sr and 137 Cs in the groundwaters were extremely low because of the chemical treatments and precautions taken to establish and maintain an alkaline environment near the trench, which allows for 90 Sr sorption and precipitation, and because of the strong tendency for 137 Cs to be selectively sorbed by illite. Plutonium isotopic ratios indicate that much of the plutonium contamination near the trench results from the migration of 242 Cm and 244 Cm and their subsequent decay to 238 Pu and 240 Pu. Radionuclide concentrations in the groundwaters near the north end of the trench undergo seasonal variations, with the highest activities occurring in the spring and after prolonged rainfall. This suggests that contamination may be leached from the trench or from the relict waste migration layers when the groundwater level rises to saturate these zones or when precipitation infiltrates into the trench or along these relict migration layers during drainage. Suspected transport pathways from the trench to a nearby seep area appear to be associated with fault zones and limbs of a plunging limestone fold.

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