Cation Exchange Reactions Controlling Desorption of 90Sr2+ From Coarse-Grained Contaminated Sediments at the Hanford Site, Washington

Nuclear waste that bore 90Sr2+ was accidentally leaked into the vadose zone at the Hanford site, and was immobilized at relatively shallow depths in sediments containing little apparent clay or silt-sized components. We desorbed Sr2+, 90Sr2+, Mg2+, and Ca2+, and monitored total inorganic carbon concentration during the equilibration of this sediment with varying concentrations of Na+ and Ca2+. A cation exchange model previously developed for similar sediments was applied to these results as a predictor of final solution compositions. The model included binary exchange reactions for the four operant cations and an equilibrium dissolution/precipitation reaction for calcite. The model produced an excellent prediction for desorption data. We also examined the contaminated sediment using digital autoradiography, a sensitive tool for imaging the distribution of radioactivity. The exchanger phase containing 90Sr was found to consist of smectite formed from weathering of mesostasis glass in basaltic lithic fragments. These clasts are a significant component of Hanford formation sands. The relatively small but significant cation exchange capacity of these sediments was thus a consequence of reaction with physically sequestered clays in a sediment that contained essentially no fine-grained material. The nature of this exchange component explains the relatively slow (scale of days) evolution of desorption solutions. The experimental and model results indicate that there is little risk of migration of 90Sr2+ to the water table.