Modelling of decay chain transport in groundwater from uranium tailings ponds

Nair, R. N.; Sunny, Faby; Manikandan, S.

doi:10.1016/j.apm.2009.10.038

Cited by 45 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The decay chain transport model for the parent radionuclide for a one-dimensional and homogeneous unsaturated porous medium can be represented as [22] expressed in Eq. 4:…”

Section: Physical System and Governing Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rotter et al [21] developed a biogeochemical reactive transport model for uranium immobilization in both single and dual-porosity porous media to study the bioremediation efficiency on uranium. Recently, a decay-chain transport of uranium in a heterogeneous anisotropic saturated porous medium is performed [22]. This study identified the necessity of monitoring the short-lived progeny radionuclides apart from their long-lived parents in the groundwater in the vicinity of uranium tailing ponds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mill tailings are expected to include all the radionuclide in the 238 U decay series after the uranium extraction from ore [22]. The 238 U decay chain contains four long-lived radionuclide ( 238 U, 234 226 Ra.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling the sensitivity of hydrogeological parameters associated with leaching of uranium transport in an unsaturated porous medium

Berlin

Govindarajan

2018

Environmental Engineering Research

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The uranium ore residues from the legacies of past uranium mining and milling activities that resulted from the less stringent environmental standards along with the uranium residues from the existing nuclear power plants continue to be a cause of concern as the final uranium residues are not made safe from radiological and general safety point of view. The deposition of uranium in ponds increases the risk of groundwater getting contaminated as these residues essentially leach through the upper unsaturated geological formation. In this context, a numerical model has been developed in order to forecast the 238 U and its progenies concentration in an unsaturated soil. The developed numerical model is implemented in a hypothetical uranium tailing pond consisting of sandy soil and silty soil types. The numerical results show that the 238 U and its progenies are migrating up to the depth of 90 m and 800 m after 10 y in silty and sandy soil, respectively. Essentially, silt may reduce the risk of contamination in the groundwater for longer time span and at the deeper depths. In general, a coupled effect of sorption and hydro-geological parameters (soil type, moisture context and hydraulic conductivity) decides the resultant uranium transport in subsurface environment.

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“…The decay chain transport model for the parent radionuclide for a one-dimensional and homogeneous unsaturated porous medium can be represented as [22] expressed in Eq. 4:…”

Section: Physical System and Governing Equationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling the sensitivity of hydrogeological parameters associated with leaching of uranium transport in an unsaturated porous medium

Berlin

Govindarajan

2018

Environmental Engineering Research

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“…Earlier studies conducted on flow and transport in a coupled fracture-matrix system either includes single or multi-species radionuclide transport using the conventional parallel plate model with a constant fracture aperture thickness (Lever et al 1983;Nair et al 2010;Silveira et al 2013;Yamashita and Kimura 1990). However, very few studies have incorporated the complex variation of fracture aperture in analyzing the transport through fractured porous media (Chrysikopoulos and Abdel-Salam 1997;James and Chrysikopoulos 2000;James et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Effect of nonlinear sorption on multispecies radionuclide transport in a coupled fracture-matrix system with variable fracture aperture: a numerical study

Bagalkot

Kumar

2015

ISH Journal of Hydraulic Engineering

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A one-dimensional numerical analysis on multispecies radionuclide transport in a single-horizontal coupled fracture-matrix system has been performed. Analysis considering linear and nonlinear adsorption cases with linear, Langmuir, and Freundlich adsorption models has been carried out. The results indicate that there is a significant change in the spatial distribution of radionuclides in a coupled fracture-matrix system when a nonlinear adsorption isotherm is considered as compared to the simplified linear sorption isotherm. Sensitivity analysis of Langmuir constant and Freundlich exponent has been performed, and the numerical results indicate that the behavior of radionuclide transport is strongly influenced by these nonlinear sorption isotherm parameters. In addition, an attempt has been made to consider the variation of fracture aperture thickness along its flow direction by introducing logarithmic distribution. A clear distinction in the spatial distribution of radionuclide concentration was observed when variable fracture aperture is considered as opposed to the conventional parallel plate model with a constant fracture aperture thickness. Further, the results suggest that there is an enhanced retardation of radionuclides within the high permeable fracture with varying fracture aperture.

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“…Tailings would be generated worldwide during the U mining and ore processing with particular means of open pit and underground [1]. Presently, the world's stockpile of U waste rocks was estimated to exceed 40 billion tons, and tailings 20 billion tons [2,3]. With an advent of U-free markets, many mines became non-economically effective and were finally shut down.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China

Gao

Guo

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Uranium (U) mining activities, which lead to contamination in soils and waters (i.e., leachate from U mill tailings), cause serious environmental problems. However, limited research works have been conducted on U pollution associated with a whole soil-water system. In this study, a total of 110 samples including 96 solid and 14 water samples were collected to investigate the characteristics of U distribution in a natural soil-water system near a U mining tailings pond. Results showed that U concentrations ranged from 0.09 ± 0.02 mg/kg to 2.56 × 104± 23 mg/kg in solid samples, and varied greatly in different locations. For tailings sand samples, the highest U concentration (2.56× 104 ± 23 mg/kg) occurred at the depth of 80 cm underground, whereas, for paddy soil samples, the highest U concentration (5.22 ± 0.04 mg/kg) was found at surface layers. Geo-accumulation index and potential ecological hazard index were calculated to assess the hazard of U in the soils. The calculation results showed that half of the soil sampling sites were moderately polluted. For groundwater samples, U concentrations ranged from 0.55 ± 0.04 mg/L to 3.36 ± 0.02 mg/L with a mean value of 2.36 ± 0.36 mg/L, which was significantly lower than that of percolating waters (ranging from 4.56 ± 0.02 mg/L to 12.05 ± 0.04 mg/L, mean 7.91 ± 0.98 mg/L). The results of this study suggest that the distribution of U concentrations in a soil-water system was closely associated with hydrological cycles and U concentrations decreased with circulation path.

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Modelling of decay chain transport in groundwater from uranium tailings ponds

Cited by 45 publications

References 23 publications

Modeling the sensitivity of hydrogeological parameters associated with leaching of uranium transport in an unsaturated porous medium

Modeling the sensitivity of hydrogeological parameters associated with leaching of uranium transport in an unsaturated porous medium

Effect of nonlinear sorption on multispecies radionuclide transport in a coupled fracture-matrix system with variable fracture aperture: a numerical study

Occurrence and Distribution of Uranium in a Hydrological Cycle around a Uranium Mill Tailings Pond, Southern China

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