We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Uranium Retardation Capacity of Lithologies from the Negev Desert, Israel—Rock Characterization and Sorption Experiments.
- Authors
Dangelmayr, Martin A.; Bussod, Gilles Y.; Reimus, Paul W.; WoldeGabriel, Giday; Calvo, Ran; Harris, Rose J.; Stauffer, Philip H.; Boukhalfa, Hakim; Klein-BenDavid, Ofra; Balaban, Noa; Rosenzweig, Ravid
- Abstract
A series of batch experiments were performed to assess the uranium sorption capacity of four mineralogically distinct lithologies from the Negev Desert, Israel, to evaluate the suitability of a potential site for subsurface radioactive waste disposal. The rock specimens consisted of an organic-rich phosphorite, a bituminous marl, a chalk, and a sandstone. The sorption data for each lithology were fitted using a general composite surface complexation model (GC SCM) implemented in PHREEQC. Sorption data were also fitted by a non-mechanistic Langmuir sorption isotherm, which can be used as an alternative to the GC SCM to provide a more computationally efficient method for uranium sorption. This is because all the rocks tested have high pH/alkalinity/calcium buffering capacities that restrict groundwater chemistry variations, so that the use of a GC SCM is not advantageous. The mineralogy of the rocks points to several dominant sorption phases for uranyl (UO22+), including apatite, organic carbon, clays, and iron-bearing phases. The surface complexation parameters based on literature values for the minerals identified overestimate the uranium sorption capacities, so that for our application, an empirical approach that makes direct use of the experimental data to estimate mineral-specific sorption parameters appears to be more practical for predicting uranium sorption.
- Subjects
NEGEV (Israel); ISRAEL; URANIUM; RADIOACTIVE waste sites; SORPTION; ROCK testing; DISTRIBUTION isotherms (Chromatography); RADIOACTIVE waste disposal
- Publication
Minerals (2075-163X), 2022, Vol 12, Issue 6, p728
- ISSN
2075-163X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/min12060728