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Uranium(VI) Adsorption on Goethite and Soil in Carbonate Solutions

Los Alamos National Lab., Chemical Science and Technology Division, P.O. Box 1663, MS J534, Los Alamos, NM 87545

C. Amrhein

Dep. of Soil and Environmental Sciences, Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521

*Corresponding author (martine{at}lanl.gov).

ABSTRACT

Elevated concentrations of U are found in agricultural drainage waters from the San Joaquin Valley, CA, which are often disposed of in evaporation basins that are frequented by waterfowl. To determine the factors that affect aqueous U concentrations in the basins, sorption experiments with U(VI) were performed at various CO₂ partial pressures, dissolved Ca, Mg, and P concentrations, and carbonate alkalinities. Synthetic waters, comparable in inorganic constituents to irrigation and drainage waters, were prepared, spiked with 0.1 (soil) and 2 mg U(VI) L^–1 (synthetic goethite), and analyzed for U, P (when applicable), and major ions. Total chemical analyses were input into the computer program FITEQL to determine U(VI) speciation and generate U(VI) adsorption constants with the diffuse layer model (also referred to as the two-layer model). Maximum adsorption occurred in solutions with low carbonate alkalinities (3 mmol L^–1), ionic strengths (0.03 M), Ca concentrations (4 mmol L^–1), and P concentrations (<0.005 mmol L^–1 for soil). Lesser and negligible adsorption was attributed to the predicted formation of highly soluble, negatively charged U(VI) carbonates [UO₂(CO₃)^2–₂ and UO₂(CO₃)^4–₃] that did not strongly adsorb to soil surfaces. Calcium and, to some degree, Mg competition with positively charged U(VI) species for surface sites was observed at low carbonate alkalinities (<3 mmol L^–1 for goethite; <14 mmol L^–1 for soil). At high carbonate alkalinities, carbonates competed with anionic U(VI) species for adsorption sites. Study results suggest that elevated U concentrations in the drainage waters are due to the speciation of dissolved U(VI) into negatively charged carbonate complexes.

UC Salinity/Drainage Program, Project no. 92-11.

Received for publication March 6, 1995.

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