Formula omitted] interaction: The effect of carbonate alkalinity on adsorbed thorium

Abstract

Elevated activities of dissolved Th have been found in Soap Lake, an alkaline lake in Eastern Washington. Dissolved 232Th ranges from less than 0.001 to 4.9 dpm/L compared to about 1.3 × 10 −5 dpm/ L in sea water. The enhanced activity in the lake coincides with an increase in carbonate alkalinity. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of pH, ionic strength and carbonate alkalinity on Th adsorption on goethite. Thorium (10 −13 M total) in the presence of 5.22 mg/L α-FeOOH and 0.1 M NaNO 3 has an adsorption edge from pH 2–5. At pH 9.0 ± 0.6 the percent Th absorbed on the solid began to decrease from 100% at 100 meq/L carbonate alkalinity and exhibited no adsorption above 300 meq/L. The experimental data were modeled to obtain the intrinsic adsorption equilibrium constants for Th hydrolysis species. These adsorption constants were incorporated in the model to interpret the observed effect of carbonate alkalinity on Th adsorption. There are two main effects of the alkalinity. To a significant degree the decrease in Th adsorption is due to competition of HCO − 3 and CO 2− 3 ions for surface sites. Dissolved Th carbonate complexes also contribute to the increase of Th in solution.