PNNL

Abstract

Biostimulation field experiments with acetate amendment are being performed at a former uranium mill tailings site in Rifle, Colorado, to investigate subsurface processes controlling in situ bioremediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater. An important part of the research is identifying and quantifying field-scale models of the principal terminal electron-accepting processes (TEAPs) during biostimulation and the consequent biogeochemical impacts to the subsurface receiving environment. Integrating abiotic chemistry with the microbially mediated TEAPs in the reaction network brings into play geochemical observations (e.g., pH, alkalinity, redox potential, major ions, and secondary minerals) that the reactive transport model must recognize. These additional constraints provide for a more systematic and mechanistic interpretation of the field behaviors during biostimulation. The reaction network specification developed for the 2002 biostimulation field experiment was successfully applied without additional calibration to the 2003 and 2007 field experiments. The robustness of the model specification is significant in that 1) the 2003 biostimulation field experiment was performed with 3 times higher acetate concentrations than the previous biostimulation in the same field plot (i.e., the 2002 experiment), and 2) the 2007 field experiment was performed in a new unperturbed plot on the same site. The biogeochemical reactive transport simulations accounted for four TEAPs, two distinct functional microbial populations, two pools of bioavailable Fe(III) minerals (iron oxides and phyllosilicate iron), uranium aqueous and surface complexation, mineral precipitation, and dissolution. The conceptual model for bioavailable iron reflects recent laboratory studies with sediments from the Old Rifle Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) site that demonstrated that the bulk (~90%) of Fe(III) bioreduction is associated with the phyllosilicates rather than the iron oxides. The uranium reaction network includes a U(VI) surface complexation model based on laboratory studies with Old Rifle UMTRA sediments and aqueous complexation reactions that include ternary complexes (e.g., calcium-uranyl-carbonate). The bioreduced U(IV), Fe(II), and sulfide components produced during the experiments are strongly associated with the solid phases and may play an important role in long-term uranium immobilization.