Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-mcfzb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-09T23:24:30.388Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Formulation of an Integrated Physicochemical-Hydrologic Model for Predicting Waste Nuclide Retardation in Geologic Media

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

A. B. Muller ,
D. Langmuir  and
L. E. Duda
A. B. Muller
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA;
D. Langmuir
Affiliation:
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA;
L. E. Duda
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Get access

Abstract

The inability of empirical single value elemental Rd values to model radionuclide retardation in natural groundwater systems has demonstrated the need for developing a comprehensive integrated phenomenological model of the physicochemical and hydrologic mechanisms involved in retardation. The model must account for: (1) radioactive decay, (2) chemical precipitation/dissolution of bulk phases, (3) chemical substitution reactions, (4) isotopic exchange reactions, (5) cation and anion exchange, (6) specific adsorption, (7) diffusion into adjacent flow paths, (8) diffusion into fluid not involved in flow, (9) diffusion into the solid matrix and (10) ultrafiltration. The formulation of such a model is proposed, based on a reaction-path-simulation code with modifications for adsorption processes (by a surface-complexation site-binding model) and diffusional processes. The coupling of the physicochemical portion of this model to a ground-water transport code can be achieved by alternately iterating through the chemical and physical portions of the code during each time step. Sensitivity analysis used to determine dominant species, dominant retardation mechanisms and temporal and spatial homogeneities in the flow system will allow the integrated model to be reduced to a manageable form.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 15: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VI , 1982 , 547
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1983

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. Reardon, E. J., “Kd's — Can they be used to describe reversible ion sorption reactions in contaminant migration?”, Groundwater 19, 279 (1981).Google Scholar
2. Coles, D. G. and Ramspott, L. D., “Migration of ruthenium-106 in a Nevada test site aquifer: Discrepancy between field and laboratory results,” science 215, 1235 (1982).Google Scholar
3. Bondietti, E. A., “Mobile species of Pu, Am, Cm, Np and Tc in the environment” in Environmental migration of long-lived radionuclides, International Atomic Energy Agency Symposium, Vienna (1982), pp. 81–96.Google Scholar
4. McKinley, I. G., “Prediction of radionuclide migration from laboratory sorption data” in Environmental migration of long-lived radionuclides, International Atomic Energy Agency Symposium, Vienna (1982), pp. 147–152.Google Scholar
5. Muller, A. B. and Duda, L. E., “The influence and modeling of waste nuclide aqueous speciation on geosphere retardation processes relevant to risk assessment” in Waste Management '82, 1, Post, R. G. ed., Am. Nuc Soc. Symposium on Waste Management, Tucson (1982), pp. 513–528.Google Scholar
6. Langmuir, D., “The power exchange function: A general model for metal adsorption onto geologic materials,” in Adsorption From Aqueous Solutions, Tewari, P. H. ed., (Plenum Press, New York, 1981.)Google Scholar
7. Davis, J. A., James, R. O., and Leckie, J. O., “Surface ionization and complexation at the oxide-water interface,” J. Colloid and Interface Science 63, pp. 480–490.Google Scholar
8. Westall, J. C., Zackery, J. L. and Morel, F. M. M., “MINEQL: A computer program for the calculation of the chemical equilibrium composition of aqueous systems,” Text Note 18, Water Quality Laboratory, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston (1976).Google Scholar
9. Riese, A. C., “Adsorption of radium and thorium onto quartz and kaolinite: A comparison of solution/surface equilibrium models,” Ph.D. dissertation in Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, (1982), 295 p.Google Scholar
10. Gillham, R. W. and Cherry, J. A., “Contaminant migration in saturated unconsolidated geologic deposits,” Geol. Soc. Am. Special Paper 189 (1982).Google Scholar
11. Freeze, R. A. and Cherry, J. A., Groundwater (Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 1979).Google Scholar
12. Weast, R. C., ed. Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (Chemical Rubber Company, Cleveland, Ohio 1971).Google Scholar
13. Gaudet, J. P., Jegat, H., Vachaud, G. and Wierenga, P. J., “Solute transfer, with exchange between mobile and stagnant water, through unsaturated sand”, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 41, 665 (1977).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Bibby, R., “Mass transport of solutes in dual-porosity media,” Water Resources Res. 17, 1075 (1981).Google Scholar
15. Neretnieks, I., personal communication (1982).Google Scholar