Environ. Sci. Technol. 2007, 41, 7653-7660
Uranium Deposition in a Weathered Fractured Saprolite/Shale DEBRA H. PHILLIPS,† D A V I D B . W A T S O N , * ,‡ A N D Y U L R O H § Environmental Engineering Research Centre, School of Planning, Architecture, and Civil Engineering, Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast BT9 5AG, Northern Ireland, U.K., Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6038, and Faculty of Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-757, Korea
Chemical analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) microanalysis were carried out on cores of contaminated geological material collected around four closed waste disposal ponds to examine the extent of nitric acid extractable U (UNA) association with P, S, and extractable Fe, Al, and Mn oxides within deeply weathered fractured shale. The solid phase in many regimes on the site has been exposed to highly buffered acidic (
