Abstract
Reduction of the fraction of Ra-226 leached from U mill tailings by one or two orders of magnitude was found possible by solidifying the mill tailings with cement and cement plus peat or clay. For the period of the leaching experiments (approximately 100 days) the leaching behavior of the solidified mill tailings could be described by an empirical equation of the form Q = αt α, where Q = fraction of activity leached, normalized with respect to the surface: volume ratio of the tailings, t = time, and α and α are constants. The most effective consolidation mixture investigated was a 70:30 tailings to consolidating mixture comprised of cement, peat and clay in the ratio of 50:30:20.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
De Jonghe, P., Baetsle, L., Van de Voorde, N., Macs, W., Staner, P., Pyck, J., and Souffriau, J.: 1965, in Int. Conf. Peaceful Uses of Atom. Energy (Proc. Conf. Geneva, 1964), 14, UN, New York, p. 343.
Douglas, R. W. and El Sharmy, T. M.: 1967, J. Am. Ceramic Soc. 50, 1.
Gamble, D. S.: 1970, Can. J. Chem. 48, 2662.
Gamble, D. S.: 1972, Can. J. Chem. 50, 2680.
Gamble, D. S.: 1973, Can. J. Chem. 51, 3217.
Gamble, D. S. and Marinsky, J. A.: 1977, in Ion Exchange and Solvent Extraction, Vol. 8, Marcel-Dekker, New York.
Helfferich, F.: 1962, Ion Exchange, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Hespe, E. D.: 1971, Atomic Energy Rev. 9, 195.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 1972, Use of Local Minerals in the Treatment of Radioactive Waste, Tech. Rept. Ser. No. 136, Vienna, 113 pp.
Luce, R. W.: 1972, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 36, 35.
Moriyama, N.: 1977, Health Phys. 32, 549.
Mendel, J. G. and McElroy, J. L.: 1972, BNWL-1666.
Nathwani, J. S.: 1978, ‘Disposal of Uranium Mill Tailings: A study of leaching of Radium-226 and its fate in the environment’, PhD Thesis, University of Toronto, Toronto, 168 pp.
Nathwani, J. S. and Phillips, C. R.: 1978, Water Air Soil Pollut. 9, 453.
Nathwani, J. S. and Phillips, C. R.: 1979a, Water Air Soil Pollut. 11, 301.
Nathwani, J. S. and Phillips, C. R., 1979b, Water Air Soil Pollut. 11, 309.
Nathwani, J. S. and Phillips, C. R.: 1979c, Chemosphere 8, 285.
Nathwani, J. S. and Phillips, C. R.: 1979d, Chemosphere 8, 293.
Robinson, B. P.: 1962, Geological Survey Water Supply Paper 1616, Washington, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 131 pp.
Schnitzer, M. and Khan, S. U.: 1972, Humic Substances in the Environment, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Smith, A. J.: 1969, AERE-M-2223.
Southworth, R. W.: 1965, Digital Computation and Numerical Methods, McGraw-Hill, New York, p. 452.
Starik, I. E., Lazarev, K. F., and Polevaya, N. I.: 1960, Radiokhimiya 2, 749.
Szalay, A. and Szilagyi, M.: 1961, Acta Phys. Hung. 13, 421.
Szalay, A.: 1964, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 28, 1605.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nathwani, J.S., Phillips, C.R. Leachability of Ra-226 from uranium mill tailings consolidated with naturally occurring materials and/or cement. Water Air Soil Pollut 14, 379–387 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00291850
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00291850