Determination of sorption and diffusion parameters of Se(IV) on crushed granite

Sorption and diffusion are important processes for the transport of radionuclides through geomedia from a radioactive disposal facility. In this study, batch tests and through-diffusion experiments were performed to investigate the sorption and diffusion of Se(IV) in crushed granite. Different column lengths of 2, 4 and 8, were employed in the through-diffusion experiments to study the effect of the column length on the apparent diffusion coefficients. Synthetic groundwater (GW) and synthetic seawater (SW) were the liquid phases in these experiments. A two-site kinetic linear model and the Freundlich isotherm were applied to match the sorption/desorption batch data quite closely for both of GW and SW conditions. The retardation factors (Rf) were estimated by comparing the breakthrough curve of Se(IV) with that of HTO. Experimental results indicated that whether in GM or SW solution, the column lengths did not significantly affected Da or Rf of Se in crushed granite. (author)