Understanding the nature of contamination of longer lived radionuclides at the interface between buried concrete structures and the environment

This proposal responds to the advert - C) Land Quality, (C.1) Development of the understanding of the migration of

radioactive and chemotoxic contaminants from buried concrete structures, including mechanisms of mobilisation of these into the environment such

as diffusion & desorption, effective characterisation methods and the generation of modelling and assessment tools to support the production of more robust Environmental Safety Cases.

NDA sites have significant land contamination which requires disposal. The scope for this experimental project is focussed on understanding the

nature of contamination of longer lived radionuclides at the interface between buried concrete structures and the environment. Specifically, it will use

field lysimeter and lab experiments to understand the immediate fate of contaminants associated with buried concrete structures and explore their

long-term stability and mobility using geochemical-, mineralogical-, and radiological-techniques combined with electron microscopy and X-ray

absorption spectroscopy. This will improve understanding of the retention of key radionuclides in the sub-surface and in the complex environments

around buried concrete structures which may be candidates for in situ disposal. In turn, this new information on contaminant mobilisation in these complex environments will inform reuse / in-situ disposal scenarios on contaminated materials in the NDA estate.