DOE FG02-03ER63557: Final Technical Report: Reactivity of Primary Soil Minerals and Secondary Precipitates Beneath Leaking Hanford Waste Tanks

Abstract

Principal Investigator: Kathryn Nagy, klnagy@uic.edu, (312) 355-3276 Goals and ObjectivesThe purpose of the project was to investigate rates and mechanisms of reactions between primary sediment minerals and key components of waste tank solutions that leaked into the subsurface at the Hanford Site. Results were expected to enhance understanding of processes that cause (1) changes in porosity and permeability of the sediment and resultant changes in flow paths of the contaminant plumes, (2) formation of secondary precipitates that can take up contaminants in their structures, and (3) release of mineral components that can drive redox reactions affecting dissolved contaminant mobility. Measured rates can also be used directly in reactive transport models.Project tasks included (1) measurement of the dissolution rates of biotite mica from low to high pH and over a range of temperature relevant to the Hanford subsurface, (2) measurement of dissolution rates of quartz at high pH and in the presence of dissolved alumina, (3) measurement of the dissolution rates of plagioclase feldspar in high pH, high nitrate, high Al-bearing solutions characteristic of the BX tank farms, (4) incorporation of perrhenate in iron-oxide minerals as a function of pH, and (5) initiation of experiments to measure the formation of uranium(VI)-silicate phases under ambient conditions. Task 2 was started under a previous grant from the Environmental Management Science Program and Task 4 was partially supported by a grant to the PI from the Geosciences Program, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Task 5 was continued under a subsequent grant from the Environmental Remediation Sciences Program, Office of Biological and Environmental Research.Summaries of the major results and products from each task are described below.