Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, 9158–9164
Depleted Uranium Mobility Across a Weapons Testing Site: Isotopic Investigation of Porewater, Earthworms, and Soils I A N W . O L I V E R , * ,† MARGARET C. GRAHAM,‡ ANGUS B. MACKENZIE,† ROBERT M. ELLAM,† AND JOHN G. FARMER‡ Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, United Kingdom G75 0QF, and School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Crew Building, The King’s Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, United Kingdom EH9 3JN
Received May 17, 2008. Revised manuscript received October 3, 2008. Accepted October 8, 2008.
The mobility and bioavailability of depleted uranium (DU) in soils at a UK Ministry of Defence (UK MoD) weapons testing range were investigated. Soil and vegetation were collected near a test-firing position and at eight points along a transect line extending ∼200 m down-slope, perpendicular to the firing line, toward a small stream. Earthworms and porewaters were subsequently separated from the soils and both total filtered porewater (
