Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T00:52:36.453Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preferential Association of Adsorbed Uranium with Mineral Surfaces: A Study Using Analytical Electron Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

G. R. Lumpkin ,
T. E. Payne ,
B. R. Fenton  and
T. D. Waite
G. R. Lumpkin
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
T. E. Payne
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia
B. R. Fenton
Affiliation:
Department of Water Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia
T. D. Waite
Affiliation:
Department of Water Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia
Get access

Abstract

Analytical electron microscopy (AEM) has been employed to characterize the distribution of U(VI) on several mineral substrates, including standard kaolinite samples and weathered rock samples from Koongarra, Australia. Results of this study reveal that pre-existing impurity phases play a significant role in the uptake of U(VI) on standard kaolinite samples. Using a natural sample from the weathered zone of the Koongarra uranium deposit, we have also demonstrated that U(VI) sorption is controlled by iron oxyhydroxides (predominantly goethite) which constitute a small fraction of the sample. Limited sorption of U(VI) was observed on the clay minerals of this substrate. Uptake of U(VI) by goethite increases with total uranium content up to the point of uranium precipitation, after which it decreases dramatically. Uranium precipitation is indicated by the appearance of a uranyl oxyhydroxide phase.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 556: Symposium QQ – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXII , 1999 , 1067
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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 Waite, T.D., Davis, J.A., Payne, T.E., Waychunas, G.A., and Xu, N., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 58, 5465 (1994).Google Scholar
2 Waychunas, G.A., Rea, B.A., Fuller, C.C., and Davis, J.A., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 57, 2251 (1993).Google Scholar
3 Payne, T.E., Lumpkin, G.R., and Waite, T.D., In Adsorption of Metals by Geomedia: Variables, Mechanisms and Models, edited by Jenne, E.A. (Academic Press, San Diego, 1998) p. 75–97.Google Scholar
4 Pabalan, R.T., Turner, D.R., Bertetti, F.P., and Prikryl, J.D., In Adsorption of Metals by Geomedia: Variables, Mechanisms and Models, edited by Jenne, E.A. (Academic Press, San Diego, 1998) p. 99–130.Google Scholar
5 Rosentreter, J.J., Quarder, H.W., Smith, R.W., and McLing, T., In Adsorption of Metals by Geomedia: Variables, Mechanisms and Models, edited by Jenne, E.A. (Academic Press, San Diego, 1998) p. 181–192.Google Scholar
6 Redden, G.E., Li, J., and Leckie, J., In Adsorption of Metals by Geomedia: Variables, Mechanisms and Models, edited by Jenne, E.A. (Academic Press, San Diego, 1998) p. 291–315.Google Scholar
7 Thompson, H.A., Parks, G.A., and Brown, G.E. Jr., In Adsorption of Metals by Geomedia: Variables, Mechanisms and Models, edited by Jenne, E.A. (Academic Press, New York, 1998) p. 349–370.Google Scholar
8 Olphen, H. Van and Fripiat, J.J., Data Handbook for Clay Materials and Other Non-metallic Minerals (Pergamon, Oxford, 1979).Google Scholar
9 Pruett, R.J. and Webb, H.L., Clays and Clay Minerals 41, 514 (1993).Google Scholar
10 Weaver, C.E., Clays and Clay Minerals 24, 215 (1976).Google Scholar
11 Hsu, P.H., Soil Sci. 99, 398 (1965).Google Scholar
12 Payne, T.E., Lumpkin, G.R., and Waite, T.D., In Application of Surface Complexation Modelling to Natural Mineral Assemblages, edited by Davis, J.A., Report to the USNRC, in preparation.Google Scholar
13 Fenton, B.R. and Waite, T.D., Radiochim. Acta 74, 251 (1996).Google Scholar
14 Fenton, B.R., Lumpkin, G.R., Waite, T.D., and Payne, T.E., In Application of Surface Complexation Modelling to Natural Mineral Assemblages, edited by Davis, J.A., Report to the USNRC, in preparation.Google Scholar
15 McKenzie, R.M., Aust. J. Soil Res. 13, 177 (1975).Google Scholar
16 Gueniot, B., Guillet, B., and Souchier, B., C.R. Acad. Sci. Ser. 2 251, 31 (1982).Google Scholar
17 Hsi, C-K.D. and Langmuir, D., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 49, 1931 (1985).Google Scholar
18 Zielinski, R.A., Bush, C.A., Spengler, R.W., and Szabo, B.J., Uranium 2, 361 (1986).Google Scholar
19 Yanase, N., Nightingale, T., Payne, T., and Duerden, P., Radiochim. Acta 52/53, 387 (1991).Google Scholar