Xenon adsorption on geological media and implications for radionuclide signatures.

Autor: Paul MJ; Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Rd, Bldg 159, Austin, TX 78758, USA. Electronic address: mpaul@utexas.edu., Biegalski SR; Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Rd, Bldg 159, Austin, TX 78758, USA., Haas DA; Nuclear Engineering Teaching Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Rd, Bldg 159, Austin, TX 78758, USA., Jiang H; Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St, Austin, TX 78712, USA., Daigle H; Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St, Austin, TX 78712, USA., Lowrey JD; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA 99354, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of environmental radioactivity [J Environ Radioact] 2018 Jul; Vol. 187, pp. 65-72. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Feb 13.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2018.01.029
Abstrakt: The detection of radioactive noble gases is a primary technology for verifying compliance with the pending Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. A fundamental challenge in applying this technology for detecting underground nuclear explosions is estimating the timing and magnitude of the radionuclide signatures. While the primary mechanism for transport is advective transport, either through barometric pumping or thermally driven advection, diffusive transport in the surrounding matrix also plays a secondary role. From the study of primordial noble gas signatures, it is known that xenon has a strong physical adsorption affinity in shale formations. Given the unselective nature of physical adsorption, isotherm measurements reported here show that non-trivial amounts of xenon adsorb on a variety of media, in addition to shale. A dual-porosity model is then discussed demonstrating that sorption amplifies the diffusive uptake of an adsorbing matrix from a fracture. This effect may reduce the radioxenon signature down to approximately one-tenth, similar to primordial xenon isotopic signatures.
(Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: