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Naturally Occurring Fixation of Cesium-137 on Sediments of Lacustrine Origin¹

ABSTRACT

White Oak Lake formerly served as a final settling basin for contaminated waste water discharged from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The site, which now serves as an ecological study preserve, covers an area of 44 acres and contains approximately 1,000,000 ft³ of contaminated sediment. The most abundant radionuclide present in the sediment of lacustrine origin is Cs¹³⁷, 704 ± 35 curies. Concentrations of Cs¹³⁷ on the sediment were observed to be as high as 77 x 10^-3 µc/g. More than 80% of the Cs¹³⁷ is associated with the clay fraction of the material, which was found to be predominantly illite. Significant quantities of Cs¹³⁷ were removed from the material only by treatment with strong acids. Studies of several selected clays showed illite to have a high affinity for Cs¹³⁷ at levels of the same order of magnitude as those observed in lake bed sediment and that desorption is only accomplished after disruption of the lattice structure.

¹ Research sponsored by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission under contract with the Union Carbide Corporation.

² Health Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Received for publication November 18, 1964. Accepted for publication March 23, 1965.