Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 4, 2026

Speciation and Bioavailability Measurements of Environmental Plutonium Using Diffusion in Thin Films
Published on: November 9, 2015
Distribution and retention of 137Cs in sediments at the Hanford Site, Washington
J P McKinley1, C J Zeissler, J M Zachara
1Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA. james.mckinley@pnl.gov
Abstract:
137Cesium and other contaminants have leaked from single-shell storage tanks (SSTs) into coarse-textured, relatively unweathered unconsolidated sediments. Contaminated sediments were retrieved from beneath a leaky SST to investigate the distribution of adsorbed 137Cs+ across different sediment size fractions. All fractions contained mica (biotite, muscovite, vermiculatized biotite), quartz, and plagioclase along with smectite and kaolinite in the clay-size fraction. A phosphor-plate autoradiograph method was used to identify particular sediment particles responsible for retaining 137Cs+. The Cs-bearing particles were found to be individual mica flakes or agglomerated smectite, mica, quartz, and plagioclase. Of these, only the micaceous component was capable of sorbing Cs+ strongly. Sorbed 137Cs+ could not be significantly removed from sediments by leaching with dithionite citrate buffer or KOH, but a fraction of the sorbed 137Cs+ (5-22%) was desorbable with solutions containing an excess of Rb+. The small amount of 137Cs+ that might be mobilized by migrating fluids in the future would likely sorb to nearby micaceous clasts in downgradient sediments.
Related Concept Videos
Microbial Bioremediation of Uranium
Nuclear Stability
To hold positively charged protons together in the...
Nuclear Transmutation
Radioactive Decay and Radiometric Dating
Nuclear Power
Nuclear Fuels
Nuclear fuel consists of a fissile isotope, such as uranium-235, which must be present in sufficient quantity to provide a...

