Investigations of the sorption characteristics of radiosilver on some natural and artificial soil particles

The likely distribution of 110mAg(I), a radionuclide that may be produced in nuclear power stations and which has been known to contaminate the environment, between the components of particles of soil has been investigated by measuring its uptake from solutions of sodium nitrate, sodium EDTA and sodium citrate onto particles of chernozem soil and particles formed to simulate soils. The artificial soil particles were formed from: (i) silicas coated with manganese oxide, ferric oxide and hydrated ferric oxide, (ii) silicas bearing chemically bound humic and fulvic acids and (iii) alumina bearing anionically associated humic acid. These investigations have established that uptake of 110mAg(I) by the humate coatings of soil particles will predominate under a wide range of pH. In the absence of humate coatings on the soil particles the radionuclide will be bound by the View the MathML source oxide fractions of soils.