Contribution of Sorption to the Behavior
of Natural Radionuclides in the Environment
Mihaela T. Bragea
Department of Radiation Hygiene, Leonida Georgescu Institute of Public Health, Timişoara, Romania
Corresponding author: Mihaela Bragea
Cozia Street 7
RO-300209 Timişoara, Romania
E-mail: mbragea@yahoo.com
CEJOEM 2005, Vol.11. No.2.: 130–134
Key words:
Waste rock, sorption, clay, radionuclide migration, dispersion
Abstract:
One of the goals of this study was to reveal the possibility of accumulation of radioelements (226Ra,
238U) within a given ecosystem and, in particular, to get to know the mechanisms involved in the transfer
of these radioelements in the surroundings of abandoned mines. To study the sorption of radionuclides onto media such
as rocks or minerals is, therefore, an important part of safety assessment of deep geological disposal of radioactive
waste. Therefore we tried to study the extractive power of natural water in the existing depositing places. Several
natural analogue laboratory models were set up to study the dependence of washed quantity of radionuclides on the amount
of water washing the sample and the mass of the sample. The mechanism of releasing 226Ra and 238U
from the minerals that compose the waste rock is influenced by the duration of the contact between the water and the
waste rock and the composition of the water phase. The exchange water–waste rock is a complex process that depends on
the environmental conditions; each case may be a particular case. This study aims to contribute to the estimation of
the amount of radioelements from waste rock dumps that can reach humans.
Received: 27 December 2004
Accepted: 11 July 2005
| Back |