Objective
The objectives of the proposed research are to investigate the interfacial geochemical reaction of chemical mixtures on subsurface materials and so improve the reaction based models of sorption and dynamic processes that can be used to predict contaminant concentration in the different phases of the subsurface environment. The main emphasis is to provide data for the role of natural organic matter associated with subsurface materials on the sorption and migration of radionuclides and mixture of radionuclides and organic contaminants.
The adsorption/desorption reactions being examined are those that occur when either radionuclides or mixtures of organic chemicals and radionuclides contact soil materials. The scientific focus is on multispecies interaction such as competition between solutes binding to the same surface sites, co-sorption and co-solvatation. select organic chemicals (i.e. organic acids, chelating agents), natural organic substances (i.e. organic acids, humic substances), and radionuclides (i.e. strontium (sr), caesium (cs), cobàlt (co), silver (Ag), iodine (I)) are used in separately and in selected mixtures to test ideas about multispecies interactions. These chemical agents are contacted with (i) different natural soils, (ii) natural clays, oxides, and organic matter isolated from soils and sediments, and (iii) model mineral/organic surfaces. The purpose is to quantify surface and partitioning reactions that control how contaminants distribute between liquid and solid phases. Development of a generalized reaction-based geochemical model of contaminant sorption to and desorption from low-carbon surface materials is a long term goal. For the determination of the speciation of these radionuclides in soils selective extraction methods will be used on artificially and naturally labelled soils.
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
3720 BA BILTHOVEN
Netherlands