Investigation of 3 H, 99 Tc, and 90 Sr transport in fractured rock and the effects of fracture-filling/coating material at LILW disposal facility

Abstract

Batch adsorption, batch diffusion, and flow-through column experiments were conducted using groundwater and fractured rock collected in unsaturated zone to increase our understanding of sorption and transport behavior of radionuclides. Increasing K d values were observed in the sequence 90 Sr, 99 Tc, and 3 H regardless of the geological media tested. For all sorbing radionuclides, K d values for the fracture-filling/coating material were observed to be higher than those for without fracture-filling/coating material regardless of the groundwater. These higher K d values are the result of zeolite mineral in filling/coating material of fractured rock. The batch diffusion and flow-through column experiments were also conducted using the same fractured rock sample, and the results of diffusion and column experiments showed similar trend of radionuclide sorption and transport to sorption experiment. In this study, sorption K d of radionuclide was determined and used to increase our understanding of radionuclide retardation through fracture-filling/coating materials.