Abstract
To generate information for better understanding of the behavior of cesium in relatively closed water bodies, experiments using four columns consisted of the sediment phase and the overlying water phase, together with batch sorption experiments were conducted, and the kinetics and the binding potential of cesium by sediment were investigated. Through model analysis with both the first order and the pseudo-second order reaction models, the kinetic parameters of cesium within the four columns were determined. In addition, by analyzing batch equilibrium data with both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models, associated sorption parameters were also generated. Comparisons of the models’ suitability for description of both kinetics and binding capacity of cesium were thus made, and the effects of pH and EC on the binding capacity were also studied.
Highlights
The radioactive component 137Cs having a long half-life (t1/2 = 30.17 years) is mainly formed as a by-product of processing of uranium fuels and has been considered as a major constituent of high level nuclear wastes in many countries around the world
To investigate the effects of pH and ionic strength on the binding capacity of cesium by sediment, batch experiments were conducted for nine different combinations of pH
It was considered that the concentration of cesium in the overlying water phase has reached equilibration with the cesium concentration in the sediment phase within the running period
Summary
A better understanding of the existence and interactions of cesium with different types of land coverage in the polluted areas is important and feasible cleaning and treatment technologies are urgently needed. Rivers and lakes used as drinking water sources in the concerned areas are polluted by cesium. The major sources of cesium can be considered as those associated with the catchments because frequent rainfall and snow melting can bring cesium from the catchments into rivers and lakes in both suspended and dissolved forms. The cesium after entering rivers and lakes may reveal different behaviors according to the physicochemical features of water, such as sorption onto suspended particles and microbial organisms, and binding with dissolved organic and inorganic constituents.
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