Impact of Natural Organic Matter on Uranium Transport through

The risk stemming from human exposure to actinides via the groundwater track has motivated numerous studies on the transport of radionuclides within g...
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Impact of Natural Organic Matter on Uranium Transport through Saturated Geologic Materials: From Molecular to Column Scale Yu Yang,†,*,∥ James E. Saiers,† Na Xu,† Stefan G. Minasian,‡,§ Tolek Tyliszczak,‡ Stosh A. Kozimor,§ David K. Shuh,‡ and Mark O. Barnett⊥ †

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA § Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545, USA; LA-UR 11-07050 ⊥ Department of Civil Engineering, 238 Harbert Engineering Center, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36849, USA ‡

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ABSTRACT: The risk stemming from human exposure to actinides via the groundwater track has motivated numerous studies on the transport of radionuclides within geologic environments; however, the effects of waterborne organic matter on radionuclide mobility are still poorly understood. In this study, we compared the abilities of three humic acids (HAs) (obtained through sequential extraction of a peat soil) to cotransport hexavalent uranium (U) within water-saturated sand columns. Relative breakthrough concentrations of U measured upon elution of 18 pore volumes increased from undetectable levels (