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Uranium speciation in sediments in microcosms before and after incubation under anoxic conditions

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Abstract

In order to verify whether the U(VI) in groundwater under anoxic conditions can be bioreduced, microcosms were prepared with the uranium contaminated groundwater and sediment, amended with ethanol, lactate and glucose, and incubated under anoxic conditions. After 121 days of incubation, uranium L3-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectra analysis indicated that more than 40 % of the U(VI) was reduced to U(IV) in the amended microcosms, and the initial U(VI) which was bound to C- and P-containing ligands was no longer bound to C-containing ligands after 121 days of incubation. The results show that the U(VI) in groundwater under anoxic conditions can be bioreduced.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51274124), Key Project for Fundamental Science of National Defense (B3720132001). The authors thank beamline BL14W1 (Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility) for providing the beam time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Discipline Laboratory for National Deference for Biotechnology in Uranium Mining and Hydrometallurgy, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

    Dexin Ding, Fei Xu, Nan Hu, Shimi Li, Xiang Tan & Guangyue Li

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  1. Dexin Ding
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Correspondence to Dexin Ding.

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Ding, D., Xu, F., Hu, N. et al. Uranium speciation in sediments in microcosms before and after incubation under anoxic conditions. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 303, 925–933 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3516-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3516-0

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