Simulation of remediation alternatives for a 137Cs contaminated soil

We analyze remediation alternatives for a soil contaminated with Cs-137. which sorbs strongly to clay aggregates where water flux is negligible. The mobile portion of the soil (macropores) retains little water and cesium. Some of the remediation alternatives involve infiltration of seawater enriched with KCl to promote mobilization of Cs through exchange with K. Therefore, a fully coupled reactive transport model is used to test these alternatives. We Conclude that flushing is a viable alternative, provided that some recommendations, derived from the modelling exercise are followed. These include high rate periodic infiltration and draining, as well as performing infiltration from independent cells to limit the effect of preferential flowpaths.