Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Using Bromide Tracer To Measure Uranium Diffusivity In Ground Water Sediments, Francis Michael Tee, Morris E. Jones, Megan K. Dustin, Sharon Bone, John Bargar

STAR Program Research Presentations

More than 129 million liters of groundwater are contaminated with uranium at Old Rifle, Colorado – a former uranium-processing site that operated until 1958. The original Department of Energy (DOE) strategy for remediation, involving natural flushing of U from the groundwater through mixing with surface water, has not proven successful. Thin pockets of silt-, clay-, and organic-rich sediments referred to as naturally reduced zones (NRZs) act both as sinks and sources of U to the aquifer, contribute to plume persistence, and appear to be diffusion limited controlled.

To better understand how the NRZs are diffusion limited controlled, a bromide tracer …