Cesium-137 in floodplain sediments of the Lower Three Runs Creek on the DOE Savannah River Site
H. M. Dion, C. S. Romanek, T. G. Hinton, P. M. Bertsch
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Drawer E,
Aiken, SC 29802, USA
(Received April 6, 2004)
The legacy of nuclear weapons production has resulted in vast tracks of
land contaminated with fission products, mainly 137Cs, and
at the U.S. .Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) alone there
is over 120 km2 of land contaminated with low-levels of 137Cs.
Soils on the SRS are highly weathered and dominated by sand-sized quartz
grains with the clay fraction consisting primarily of kaolinite and crystalline
and poorly crystalline iron oxides (<5%). Our results showed that the
majority of 137Cs in the Lower Three Runs Creek
floodplain were retained in the sand- sized fraction (>52 µm)
of the soil. Frayed edge site measurements were performed in order to
probe the interaction between 137Cs and the sand fraction,
with the results indicating that the vast majority of the 137Cs
was strongly retained and existed in the residual fraction. These results
prompted examination into the mineralogy of the soils in a hope to elucidate
the mechanisms of 137Cs retention by the sand fraction. The
results from this study provide new evidence for selective retention of
137Cs in larger-grained particles than previously demonstrated.
SREL Reprint #2842
Dion, H. M., C. S. Romanek, T. G. Hinton and P. M. Bertsch. 2005. Cesium-137 in floodplain sediments of the Lower Three Runs Creek on the DOE Savannah River Site. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 264:481-488.
