Office of Research and Development Publications

Sorption of Radionuclides to Building Materials and its Removal Using Simple Salts

Citation:

Kaminski, M., C. Mertz, L. Ortega, AND N. Kivenas. Sorption of Radionuclides to Building Materials and its Removal Using Simple Salts. In Proceedings, WM2015 CONFERENCE, Pheonix,AZ, March 15 - 19, 2015. Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1514-1522, (2016).

Impact/Purpose:

Decontamination after a nuclear or radiological release requires a detailed understanding of the materials hosting the contamination, the chemistry of the radionuclide, and the chemical properties of the decontamination agent. We have been studying the sorption chemistry of cesium, strontium, and americium onto urban building materials and roadways to develop simple decontamination methods that can be deployed for wide area decontamination efforts. Our results include sorption/desorption of these radionuclides onto specific minerals found in some concrete and brick, and from monolithic coupons of asphalt, marble, tile, and brick as a function of time, age of contamination, and salt composition of the decontamination solutions. With results from the study, we have been able to recommend simple salt solutions that can be effective on certain radioactive contaminations. These methods may be applicable to self-help activities and wide-area decontamination efforts.

Description:

This paper investigates several factors of importance for developing such decontamination methods, focusing on cesium. These factors include the influence on decontamination approaches from the cesium deposition conditions, the urban building material composition and, when washing with an ionic solution that is utilized for decontamination, the composition of the wash solutions. In summary, the sorption chemistry of cesium onto urban building materials and roadways has been studied to develop simple decontamination methods that can be deployed for wide-area decontamination efforts.