Predicting radioactive heavy metal movement through soil

The rate of movement through soils of constituents in wastes depends on the nature of the disposal environment with respect to three major components: the porous medium through which the fluid moves (soil), the vehicle that transports the constituent (fluid), and the potential pollutant constituent itsel (heavy metal). A laboratory soil-column method was developed to provide data for predicting movement of potential pollutants through soils. The research describes the rate of movement of radionuclides32 P, 89 Sr, 90 Sr-(90Y), 45Ca, 59Fe in biological residues and metals As, Be, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, V, and Zn in leachates. Attenuation of pollutants in soils was statistically compared to the measurable parameters of the components of the disposal environment. The application of the soil attentuation data to the Lapidus-Amundson and Error Function models for development of a simple universal equation, useful as a field oriented tool for predicting pollutant movement through soils is provided