DOPO-Modified Cellulose Microsphere: Preparation and Application for Selective Adsorption U(VI) under Acidic Solutions

Effective radioactive wastewater disposal is of great significance to the wide use of nuclear energy. In this work, 4, 4ˊ-[1, 4-phenyl-bis (9, 10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-yl) dimethyneimino)] diphenol (t-DOPO) was used to modify microcrystalline cellulose microsphere (t-DOPOR) to further enhance it affinity toward U(VI) through radiation method. The t-DOPOR were characterized for structural, morphological, and thermal properties by FTIR, SEM and TGA, which prove that t-DOPO is successfully modified on cellulose. Combination the advantage of cellulose and t-DOPO, t-DOPOR possessed abundant functional group (-OH, -NH and P=O), and exhibited extremely strong affinity toward U(VI) with a maximum adsorption capacity of 51.51 mg/g at pH 3. Particularly, A large distribution, KdU, up to 2.54×104 mL g−1 is found, implying extremely strong affinity toward U(VI) than Ln(III) (La(III), Eu(III), Dy(III), Yb(III)) at the binary system. Dynamic column experiment confirmed that t-DOPOR could separate selectively U(VI) in column experiment. In addition, even in the simulated groundwater trace amount of U(VI) was also eliminated efficiently by t-DOPOR. Lastly, the adsorption mechanism elaborated by XPS analysis was inner-sphere surface complexation between U(VI) and -OH, -NH and P=O groups of t-DOPOR. Overall, the synthesized t-DOPOR may be utilized as a promising adsorbent for separation and remediation of U(VI) from wastewater.

A Comparison of Different Natural Groundwaters from Repository Sites—Corrosivity, Chemistry and Microbial Community

In Finland, the repositories for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LLW and ILW) will be situated at three different geographical locations in about 60 to 100 m deep granite bedrock where the waste and waste containers can be subjected to anoxic groundwater containing microbes. The composition of groundwater varies in terms of chemistry and microbial activity in different locations. In this study, groundwater from the three repository areas was analyzed in respect to chemistry and microbial community. Corrosion tendency of three steel grades, carbon steel AISI/SAE 1005 and stainless steels AISI 304 and 316L, was studied in these groundwater environments using electrochemical methods. As a reference, measurements were also performed in simulated groundwater without microbes. The measurements show that corrosivity of the water and thus the steels’ performance differs depending on water origin. In addition, the groundwater differed remarkably in their chemical composition as well as abundance and diversity of microbial community between the sites. Consequently, the local environment has to be considered when evaluating the long-term evolution of disposal concepts.

Embedded Discrete Fracture Networks to Analyze Groundwater Inflows during Tunnel Drilling

Tunnels commonly go through fracture zones that used to be analyzed as an equivalent porous medium with homogeneous permeability. However, it is a rough simplification that overlooks the connection triggered by underground works in fractured massifs. This study introduces the use of synthetic discrete fracture networks (DFN) to analyze groundwater inflows through tunnel excavation in a fractured zone considering the daily advance of the drilling front. First, a hypothetical case with six different settings varying the fracture density, the fracture length, and the aperture distribution is analyzed. Each setting has about 100 iterations. DFN hydraulic properties were estimated and compared with previous DFN studies, displaying the same behavior even though the magnitude of the estimated parameters differs. As an application example, structural measurements of the Alaska fault zone in the La Linea massif (Colombia) are used to obtain the statistical parameters of the fracture length and aperture distributions to generate the DFN. Five settings varying the fracture density are built, obtaining measured and simulated groundwater inflows of the same order of magnitude. These results highlight the potential of the synthetic DFN to analyze tunnels’ effects on groundwater flow.

Effect of interaction between two single-particle-impingements on the repassivation behavior of 304 stainless steel in a simulated groundwater

To investigate the effect of interaction between two single-Si3N4 particle-impingements on the repassivation of 304 stainless steel in a simulated groundwater, the corrosion current peaks of the samples during the impingement were recorded, and the micro-hardness of the substrate around the crater was tested. The results indicated that significant interactions between the two impingements were observed only when the value of distance-diameter ratio (L/d) was less than 1.5. With L/d being less than 1.5, the corrosion current peaks and mass losses due to the second impingements were higher than those of the first ones, and the re-passivation rates of samples during the second impingements were lower than those of the first impingements. Simultaneously, the microhardness of the substrate between the two craters was higher than that of the surface around one single crater with the same distance-diameter ratio. The mechanisms of how the L/d ratio influenced the interaction between the two impingements are also discussed.