Assessment of geochemical barriers at preservation of low-level radioactive waste storages

¹ Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
² Novosibirsk State University, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia

Abstract

The work considers geochemical aspects of the natural and man-made system for storing radioactive waste (RW) from one of the Siberian enterprises of the fuel and nuclear cycle. Careful geochemical testing of key sites of the system allows us to identify geochemical barriers that prevent the spread of uranium outside the sludge storage. In addition, experiments were conducted on the leaching of the sludge material in the laboratory using modern methods for determining the composition of solutions and solid phases, as well as experiments on uranium sorption on the main types of subsoil. Experimental and thermodynamic modeling of uranium deposition processes confirms that the system studied satisfactorily copes with the absorption of uranium taken out of the sludge storage due to dilution and sorption on rocks and bottom sediments. Particularly favorable are bottom sediments rich in organic matter, which bind uranium to organic-mineral complexes.