NATO Collaborative Linkage Grant, #980580, 2004-2006, PI: Perminova I.V.

Development of reactive humic materials for prevention of actinide migration

COLLABORATORS:

• PI: Kirk Hatfield, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
• PI: Irina V. Perminova, Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
• PI: Stepan N. Kalmykov, Institute of Oceanology of RAS, Moscow, Russia

SUMMARY

Actinides pose a substantial threat to the environment due to high radiotoxicity. The goal of the proposed research is to develop actinide reactive humic materials that could be produced both as macrosorbents and as nano- and micro-materials easily embedded into the permeable matrix, and would possess the ability to induce the reduction of most mobile oxidized species of actinides. These materials could be used both for decontamination and monitoring of actinide-polluted sites. The proposed novel approach will use Humic Substances (HS) - natural compounds stable to radiolysis, - which have been innovatively treated to address decontamination and monitoring needs. The treatment will involve one-step incorporation of the specific redox-active moieties into humic structure to ensure desired reactivity and cross-linking of the humic materials to produce the non-soluble desired reactive form (nano-, micro or macro-size). The sequestering performance of the produced humic materials will be demonstrated using different oxidation states of actinides of particular interest: pentavalent neptunium and plutonium. The performance assessment of the designed humics under environmental conditions will be conducted using contaminant fate and transport modeling. From these simulations an optimum decontamination scenario in practice will be ascertained.