The Stability of Uranium-Bearing Precipitates Created as a Result of Ammonia Gas Injections in the Hanford Site Vadose Zone

Authors

Alberto Javier Abarca BetancourtFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Major/Program

Environmental Engineering

First Advisor's Name

Shonali Laha

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Yelena Katsenovich

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Berrin Tansel

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Walter Tang

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

environment, remediation, radiactive, contamination, pH manipulation, Hanford Site, DOE, Uranium, U-bearing precipitates, in-situ

Date of Defense

6-26-2017

Abstract

Uranium (U) is a crucial contaminant in the Hanford Site. Remediation techniques to prevent contaminant migration of U located in the soils to other important water resources such as the Columbia River are of paramount importance. Given the location of the contaminant in the deep vadose zone, sequestration of U caused by ammonia (NH₃) gas injections appears to be a feasible method to decrease U mobility in the contaminated subsurface via pH manipulation, ultimately converting aqueous U mobile phases to lower solubility precipitates that are stable in the natural environment. This study evaluated the stability of those U-bearing precipitates via preparation of artificial precipitates mimicking those that would be created after NH₃ gas injections and sequential extractions experiment. Results showed that most of the U was recovered with the extracting solutions targeted to remove uranyl silicates and hard-to-extract U phases, suggesting that U present in the solid particles has strong bonds to the vadose zone sediments, causing the precipitates to be stable and therefore the remediation technology to be effective under the simulated conditions.

Identifier

FIDC001917

Recommended Citation

Abarca Betancourt, Alberto Javier, "The Stability of Uranium-Bearing Precipitates Created as a Result of Ammonia Gas Injections in the Hanford Site Vadose Zone" (2017). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3359.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3359