title: Reactive transport of uranium with bacteria in fractured rock: model development and sensitivity analysis.
abstract: A numerical model for the reactive transport of uranium and bacteria in fractured rock was newly developed. The conceptual model consists of four phases (fracture, fracture surface, matrix pore, and matrix solid) and eight constituents (solutes in the fracture, on the fracture surface, on mobile bacteria, on immobile bacteria, in the rock matrix pores and on the rock matrix solids, and bacteria in the fracture and on the fracture surface). In addition to the kinetic sorption/desorption of uranium and bacteria, uranium reduction reaction accompanying with bacteria growth was considered in the reactive transport. The non-linear reactive transport equations were numerically solved using the symmetric sequential iterative scheme of the operator-splitting method. The transport and kinetic reaction modules in the developed model were separately verified, and the results were reasonably acceptable. From the sensitivity analysis, the uranium transport was generally more sensitive to the sorption rate rather than desorption rate of U(VI). Considering a uranium reduction reaction, bacteria could considerably retard the uranium transport no matter the uranium sorption/desorption rates. As the affinity of U(VI) onto the bacteria becomes higher than that onto a rock fracture surface, a biofilm effect, rather than a colloidal effect, of the bacteria becomes more influential on the uranium transport.
authors.affiliation: Radioactive Waste Disposal Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 989-111 Daedeok-daero Yuseong-gu Daejeon 305-353, Republic of Korea. jw_kim@kaeri.re.kr
authors.forename: Jung-Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Min-Hoon
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Baik
authors.forename: Haeryong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Jong-Tae
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D007700:Kinetics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014501:Uranium / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014501:Uranium
keywords: Bacteria; Fractured rock; Kinetic sorption/desorption; Reactive transport model; Uranium