Actinide (III/IV) - Silica Colloids in the WIPP
During the completeness process for the 2019 Compliance Recertification Application (CRA) for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raised concerns about the possible presence of actinide-silica colloids in the WIPP. Several publications that studied the An(IV)- silica system indicated that these colloids could form under conditions similar to WIPP. Colloids are important for WIPP Performance Assessment (PA) as these are a mobile fraction of actinides that contribute to release. As the previously published papers did not explore the formation of actinide-silica colloids under the high ionic strength environment expected in WIPP, an experimental strategy to study these systems was developed.
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗