PNNL

Abstract

During the last few decades, considerable research efforts have been extended to identify more effective remediation treatment technologies to lower the 129I concentrations to below federal drinking water standards at the Hanford Site (Richland, USA). Few studies have taken iodate into consideration, though recently iodate, instead of iodide, was identified as the major species in the groundwater of 200-West Area within the Hanford Site. The objective of this study was thus to quantify and understand aqueous radioiodine species transformations and uptake by three sediments collected from the semiarid, carbonate-rich environment of the Hanford subsurface. All three sediments reduced iodate (IO-) to iodide (I-), but the loamy-sand sediment reduced more IO3- (100% reduced within 7 days) than the two sand-textured sediments (~20% reduced after 28 days). No dissolved organo-iodine species were observed in any of these studies.