BEHAVIOR OF RADIONUCLIDES IN THE ENVIRONMENT .2. APPLICATION OF SEQUENTIAL EXTRACTION TO ZN(II) SORPTION STUDIES

Sequential extraction of a solid material (scale) collected from a water still was carried out by using the following chemical reagents; 1 M CH3COONH4, 0.04 M NH2OH.HCl in 25% (v/v) CH3COOH, 30% H2O2 in dilute HNO3 and 7M HNO3. The solid residues after each extraction were collected, and then used as sorbents in a radiochemical Zn-65(II) sorption experiment. Aqueous Zn-65(II) was found to be predominantly associated with carbonates [and/or hydrous iron(III) oxides] and silicate minerals in the scale. Organic matter was not of primary importance in Zn(II) scavenging, probably because the organic content of the scale sample was small. Silicate lattices remaining after 7M HNO, treatment did not sorb Zn-65(II).