Barium and Radium Migration in Unconsolidated Canadian Geological Materials

摘要

This report describes the results of laboratory studies on the distribution coefficients of radium and barium in samples of unconsolidated geologic materials. Graphs of Ksub(d) versus solution concentration for the respective elements showed constant Ksub(d) values in the low concentration range suggesting that, at low concentrations, a distribution coefficient is a valid means of representing the geochemical reactions of both barium and radium. The Ksub(d) values for barium range between 60 and 3500 ml/g. The values appear to be influenced by the amount of barium occurring naturally in the soil materials and thus there is little possiblility of using barium as an analog of radium in laboratory experiments. The Ksub(d) values of radium vary from 50 to 1000 ml/g indicating that a wide range of geological materials have a substantial capacity to retard the migration of radium. (Atomindex citation 13:702373)