Retention of selenium by cementitious materials under oxidizing and reducing conditions


Retention of selenium by cementitious materials under oxidizing and reducing conditions

Rojo, H.; Tits, J.; Scheinost, A. C.; Wieland, E.

79Se is an important redox-sensitive, dose-determining radionuclide in low and intermediate level radioactive waste repositories [1]. In this type of repository, cementitious materials play a crucial role as barrier for radionuclide migration from the near-field into the host rock. In current sorption databases for the cementitious near-field, only sorption data for Se(IV/VI) have been considered. Robust sorption measurements and a sufficiently detailed mechanistic understanding of the retention of the reduced Se species in a cementitious environment are lacking [2].
The objective of this work is to investigate the immobilisation of Se under the reducing conditions existing in a cement-based repository (-230mV < Eh < -750 mV). Under these conditions, Se(IV) and Se(-II) are the dominating redox states. Note that the selenium sorption behaviour is largely controlled by its oxidation state. Under oxidizing conditions, Se forms the oxyanions SeIVO32- and SeVIO42-. Generally, the adsorption of these oxyanions is expected to be very weak based on the assumption that surface complexation onto negatively charged surfaces solids, such as calcium-silicate-hydrates (C-S-H) in cement paste, is the dominating sorption mechanism [2]. Under reducing conditions, and in an alkaline environment with pH values ranging between 10 < pH < 14, Se is present either as Se(0) or as Se(-II). While Se(0) is controlled by solubility limitation, the sorption behavior of Se(-II) is largely unknown in cementitious environments.
Se(IV) and Se(-II) sorption kinetic studies have been carried out on various synthetic cement components, such as calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) and hydrated calcium aluminates (AFm), the principal host phases for radionuclides in hydrated cement. XANES studies allowed characterizing the redox state of selenium in the samples under alkaline conditions.
The sorption tests revealed that the uptake of Se(IV) by C-S-H phases is much stronger than expected. Furthermore, Rd values for Se(IV) on various AFm phases are correlated with their interlayer spacing. The sorption of Se(-II) on the different cementitious materials that are currently being investigated was found to be lower than the sorption of Se(IV).

References
[1] NAGRA (2002). Nagra Technical Report NTB 02-05, Nagra, Wettingen, Switzerland
[2] E. Wieland, L.R. Van Loon (2003). PSI Bericht 03-06, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland and Nagra Technical Report NTB 02-20, Nagra, Wettingen, Switzerland.

Keywords: selenium; XANES; cement; nuclear waste

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