Microbial Influence on the Mobility of +3 Actinides from a Salt-Based Nuclear Waste Repository.

ABSTRACT: Biologically enhanced transport of radionuclides is one of several processes that can affect the performance of a nuclear waste repository. In this work, several microbial isolates from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) were tested for their influence on the concentration of neodymium, as an analog for +3 actinides, in simple sodium chloride solutions and in anoxic WIPP brines. Batch sorption experiments were carried out over a period of 4-5 weeks. In many cases, the effect on neodymium in solution was immediate and extensive and assumed to be due to surface complexation. However, over time, the continued loss of Nd from the solution was more likely due to biologically induced precipitation and/or mineralization and possible entrapment in extracellular polymeric substances. The result

SUBMITTER: Swanson J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10304748 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature