Radiotracer study of sorption of europium on Gorleben sand from aqueous solutions containing humic substances

The sorption of trace europium, as a trivalent actinide homologue, was studied in the system Gorleben sand - aqueous solution with the aim to elucidate its mechanism. Radiotracer method (152/154Eu) and batch experiments were used. Simultaneously, the distribution of humic substances present in, or added to the system was measured. The evaluation of the sorption was complicated by the adsorption of Eu on the walls of polyethylene vials used for the experiments, which was rather high and had to be taken into consideration. It has been found that Eu sorption on Gorleben sand increases from pH 2 to pH 5-7 and then it decreases. The decrease is due to the complexation of Eu with humic substances leached from Gorleben sand at pH >7. The position of the sorption maximum depends on the composition of the solution and on the liquid-to-solid ratio. It is shifted to lower pH values in the presence of added humic acid (HA), which enhances Eu sorption at low pH values and suppresses it at pH values higher than 5. The regions of the enhancing/suppressing effects coincide with the high/low adsorption of HA on Gorleben sand, respectively. The increasing ionic strength (from 0.01 to 0.1) and europium concentration (3.4.10-8 to 9.3.10-7 mol/l) suppress the relative sorption (expressed in %) at low pH values and enhance it at pH>6-8. Addition of carbonates (5.10-3 mol/l) supports Eu sorption at pH>7.5 so that no decrease with pH is observed till pH 9. Alkaline leaching of the sand significantly changes most of the effects found. These results were qualitatively interpreted and conclusions were drawn on the mechanism of the sorption.