Electron microbeam investigation of uranium-contaminated soils from Oak Ridge, TN, USA

Two samples of uranium-contaminated soil from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Reservation in Oak Ridge, Tennessee were investigated using electron microprobe analysis and transmission electron microscopy. The objectives of this research were to identify and characterize soil particles and rock chips with high uranium concentrations, to investigate the extent of uranium penetration into chips of parent material, and to identify solid-phase hosts for uranium in the samples. Three distinct solid-phase hosts for uranium have been identified: (1) iron oxyhydroxides, including goethite and ferrihydrite; (2) mixed Mn-Fe oxides; and (3) discrete uranium phosphates. In all three, uranium is associated with phosphorus. The ubiquitous U-P association highlights the influence of phosphate on the environmental fate of uranium. Uranium-bearing phases are found well within chips of weathered shale, as far as 900 microm from fractures and chip edges, indicating that uranium has diffused into the shale matrix.