Insights into transport velocity of colloid-associated plutonium relative to tritium in porous media.
Although faster transport velocities of colloid-associated actinides, bacteria, and virus than nonreactive solutes have been observed in laboratory and field experiments, some questions still need to be answered. To accurately determine the relative velocity (UPu/UT) of 239Pu and tritium representative of the bulk water, a conceptual model of electrostatic interactions coupled with the parabolic water velocity profile in pore channels is developed. Based on the expression for UPu/UT derived from this model, we study the effects of water flow rates and ionic strengths on the UPu/UT. Also, the velocity relationship between Pu, tritium and Sr2+ is explored. The results show that UPu/UT increased fairly linearly with decreasing water flow rates; UPu/UT declined approximately exponentially with increasing Na+ concentrations; the charge properties of colloid-associated Pu (negative), tritium (neutral) and Sr2+ (positive) had a close association with their transport velocities as UPu:UT:USr2+=1.41:1:0.579.
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, P.O. Box 69-14, Xi'an City, Shanxi Province 710024, China.
Jinchuan
J
Xie
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, P.O. Box 69-14, Xi'an City, Shanxi Province 710024, China.
Jiachun
J
Lu
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, P.O. Box 69-14, Xi'an City, Shanxi Province 710024, China.
Jianfeng
J
Lin
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, P.O. Box 69-14, Xi'an City, Shanxi Province 710024, China.
Xiaohua
X
Zhou
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, P.O. Box 69-14, Xi'an City, Shanxi Province 710024, China.
Qichu
Q
Xu
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, P.O. Box 69-14, Xi'an City, Shanxi Province 710024, China.
Mei
M
Li
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, P.O. Box 69-14, Xi'an City, Shanxi Province 710024, China.
Jihong
J
Zhang