Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-03T00:12:44.664Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sorption of Cesium on Compacted Bentonite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Dennis W. Oscarson ,
Harold B. Hume  and
Fraser King
Dennis W. Oscarson
Affiliation:
AECL Research, Whiteshell Laboratories, Pinawa, Manitoba R0E 1L0 Canada
Harold B. Hume
Affiliation:
AECL Research, Whiteshell Laboratories, Pinawa, Manitoba R0E 1L0 Canada
Fraser King
Affiliation:
AECL Research, Whiteshell Laboratories, Pinawa, Manitoba R0E 1L0 Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sorption parameters are important components of models used to predict mass transport through dense or compacted earthen materials. These parameters are, however, generally determined in batch tests with loose, unconsolidated materials. Here we directly measure, using a specially designed cell, the extent of Cs+ sorption on bentonite compacted to a series of densities ranging from 0.50 to 1.50 Mg/m3, and compare the results with those obtained from batch tests with loose bentonite. The clay was saturated with a Na-Ca-Cl-dominated solution with an effective ionic strength of 220 mol/m3. The sorption data were expressed as distribution coefficients, Kd. Over the clay density range examined, Kd values for Cs+ with compacted clay are about one-half to one-third the value of those with loose clay. The lower sorption on compacted clay is attributed to small and occluded pores that Cs+ cannot enter; thus it cannot access the entire volume, or all the sorption sites, of compacted clay. The data suggest that reasonable estimates of Kd with compacted clay can be obtained by scaling down the Kd values measured on loose clay by a factor na/n, where na is the accessible porosity and n the total porosity of compacted clay.

Keywords

BentoniteCesiumSorption
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 42 , Issue 6 , December 1994 , pp. 731 - 736
Copyright
Copyright © 1994, Clay Minerals Society

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

Alberts, J. J., Pinder, J. E., Wurtz, E., and Lesnek, S.. The effect of pH, solid phase, particle concentration and equilibrium time on the partition coefficients of curium on natural sediments. In Application of Distribution Coefficients to Radiological Assessment Models. Sibley, T. H., and Myttenaere, C., 1986 eds. London: Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, 72–82.Google Scholar
Chang, K.-P., Hsu, C.-N., and Tamaki, H.. 1993 . Basic study of 137Cs sorption on soil. J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 30: 1243–1247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cho, W. J., Oscarson, D. W., Gray, M. N., and Cheung, S. C. H.. 1993 . Influence of diffusant concentration on diffusion coefficients in clay. Radiochim. Acta 60: 159–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frape, S. K., Fritz, P., and McNutt, R. H.. 1984 . Water-rock interaction and chemistry of groundwaters from the Canadian Shield. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 48: 1617–1627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillham, R. W., and Cherry, J. A.. Contaminant migration in saturated unconsolidated geologic deposits. In Recent Trends in Hydrogeology. Narasimhan, T. N., 1982 ed. GSA Special Paper 189, Boulder, Colorado: Geological Survey of America, 31–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillham, R. W., Robin, M. J. L., Dytynyshyn, D. J., and M.Johnston, H.. 1984 . Diffusion of nonreactive and reactive solutes through fine-grained barrier materials. Can. Geotech. J. 21: 541–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancox, W. T., and Nuttall, K.. 1991 . The Canadian approach to safe, permanent disposal of nuclear fuel waste. Nucl. Eng. Des. 129: 109–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, H. B., 1993. Procedures and apparatus for measuring diffusion and distribution coefficients in compacted clays: AECL Research Report, AECL-10981, COG-93–447. Chalk River, Ontario: AECL Research.Google Scholar
Jury, W. A., and Ghodrati, M.. Overview of organic chemical environmental fate and transport modelling approaches. In Reactions and Movement of Organic Chemicals in Soils. Sawhney, B. L., and Brown, K., 1989 eds. Soil Science Society of America Special Publication Number 22. Madison, Wisconsin: Soil Science Society of America, Inc., 271–304.Google Scholar
Meier, H., Zimmerhackl, E., Zeitler, G., Menge, P., and Hecker, W.. 1987 . Influence of liquid/solid ratios in radionuclide migration studies. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 109: 139–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyahara, K., Ashida, T., Kohara, Y., Yusa, Y., and Sasaki, N.. 1991 . Effect of bulk density on diffusion for cesium in compacted sodium bentonite. Radiochim. Acta 52/53: 293–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muurinen, A., Penttilä-Hiltunen, P., and Rantanen, J.. Diffusion mechanisms of strontium and cesium in compacted sodium bentonite. In Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Bates, J. K., and Seefeldt, W. B., 1987 eds. Pittsburgh, PA: Materials Research Society, Vol. 84, 803–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nightingale, E. R. Jr. 1959. Phenomenological theory of ion solvation. Effective radii of hydrated ions. J. Phys. Chem. 63: 1381–1387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connor, D. J., and Connolly, J. P.. 1980 . The effect of concentration of adsorbing solids on the partition coefficient. Water Res. 14: 1517–1523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oscarson, D. W., 1994. Comparison of measured and calculated diffusion coefficients for iodide in compacted clays. Clay Miner. 29: 145–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oscarson, D. W., Dixon, D. A., and Gray, M. N.. 1990 . Swelling capacity and permeability of an unprocessed and a processed bentonitic clay. Eng. Geol. 28: 281–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oscarson, D. W., and Dixon, D. A.. 1989 . Elemental, mineralogical, and pore-solution composition of selected Canadian clays. AECL Research Report, AECL-9891. Chalk River, Ontario: AECL Research.Google Scholar
Oscarson, D. W., and Hume, H. B.. 1994 . Diffusion of 14C in dense saturated bentonite under steady-state conditions. Transport in Porous Media 14: 73–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oscarson, D. W., Hume, H. B., Sawatsky, N. G., and Cheung, S. C. H.. 1992 . Diffusion of iodide in compacted bentonite. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1400–1406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oscarson, D. W., Watson, R. L., and Miller, H. G.. 1987 . The interaction of trace levels of cesium with monmorillonitic and illitic clays. Appl. Clay Sci. 2: 29–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, S. R., and King, F.. 1994 . The adsorption of Cu(II) on sodium bentonite in a synthetic saline groundwater. AECL Research Report, AECL-11062, COG-94–125. Chalk River, Ontario: AECL Research.Google Scholar
Sato, H., Ashida, T., Kohara, Y., Yui, M., and Sasaki, N.. 1992 . Effect of dry density on diffusion of some radionuclides in compacted sodium bentonite. J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 29: 873–882.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, H. D., and Oscarson, D. W.. 1991 . Diffusion of plutonium in mixtures of bentonite and sand at pH 3. AECL Research Report, AECL-10435. Chalk River, Ontario: AECL Research.Google Scholar
Sposito, G., 1984. The Surface Chemistry of Soils. New York: Oxford University Press. 234 pp.Google Scholar
Yong, R. N., Mohamed, A. M. O., and Warkentin, B. P.. 1992 . Principles of Contaminant Transport in Soils. New York: Elsevier. 327 pp.Google Scholar