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A site-specific study on the measurement of sorption coefficients for radionuclides
Dalvi, A. A.; Kumar, S. D. & Reddy, A. V. R.
Abstract
A study on the potential of geological media
from the vicinity of the mining site in Tummalapalle region
of Andhra Pradesh in India for retardation of radionuclide
migration in groundwater was conducted. The studies
included the measurement of sorption coefficients for six
radionuclides, uranium, thorium, lead, bismuth, radium and
polonium, between two groundwater simulants and two
site-specific samples of geological media. Initial parametric
studies involving chemical composition, pH, calcium
carbonate and organic carbon contents of both geological
media and ground water simulants were carried out. Significant
differences in sorption coefficients were observed
as a result of varying pH, calcium carbonate and presence
of trace quantities of organic contents in simulant solutions.
For example, uranium has a hundred fold lower distribution
coefficient in the case of simulant solution having higher
carbonate content. Similarly, in the case of the geological
media having higher calcium carbonate and organic carbon
contents, higher distribution coefficients were obtained for
all radionuclides. Among the six radionuclides studied
thorium showed the largest and radium the smallest distribution
coefficient values for the soil samples assessed.
The site-specific sorption coefficients will be used for
contaminant transport study.
Keywords
Bismuth; Groundwater; Polonium; Radium; Soil; Thorium; Uranium
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