Long-Term Tritium Transport through Field-Scale Compacted Soil Liner
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 8
Abstract
A 13-year study of tritium transport through a field-scale earthen liner was conducted by the Illinois State Geological Survey to determine the long-term performance of compacted soil liners in limiting chemical transport. Two field-sampling procedures (pressure-vacuum lysimeter and core sampling) were used to determine the vertical tritium concentration profiles at different times and locations within the liner. Profiles determined by the two methods were similar and consistent. Analyses of the concentration profiles showed that the tritium concentration was relatively uniformly distributed horizontally at each sampling depth within the liner and thus there was no apparent preferential transport. A simple one-dimensional analytical solution to the advective–dispersive solute transport equation was used to model tritium transport through the liner. Modeling results showed that diffusion was the dominant contaminant transport mechanism. The measured tritium concentration profiles were accurately modeled with an effective diffusion coefficient of which is in the middle of the range of values reported in the literature.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Albrecht, K. A., and Cartwright, K.(1989). “Infiltration and hydraulic conductivity of a compacted earthen linear.” Ground Water, 27(1), 14.
ASTM (2000a). “Standard practice for thin-walled tube geotechnical sampling of soils.” D1587-94, West Conshohocken, Pa.
ASTM (2000b). “Standard test method for laboratory determination of water (moisture) content of soil and rock by mass.” D2216-98 West Conshohocken, Pa.
Barone, F. S., Rowe, R. K., and Quigley, R. M.(1992). “A laboratory estimation of diffusion and adsorption coefficients for several volatile organics in a natural clayey soil.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 10, 225–250.
Bear, J. (1979). Hydraulics of groundwater, McGraw–Hill, New York.
Cartwright, K., Krapac, I. G., Panno, S. V., and Hensel, B. R. (1993). “Field study of transit time of water and tracers through a soil liner.” HWRIC Rep. No. HWR-88-047, Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center, Champaign, Ill.
Daniel, D. E.(1989). “In situ hydraulic conductivity tests for compacted clay.” J. Geotech. Eng., 115(9), 1205–1226.
Freeze, R. A., and Cherry, J. A. (1979). Groundwater, Prentice–Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Gillham, R. W., and Cherry, J. A. (1982). “Contaminant migration in saturated unconsolidated geologic deposits.” Special paper 189, Geological Society of America, 31–62.
Gillham, R. W., Robin, M. J. L., Dytynyshyn, D. J., and Johnston, H. M.(1984). “Diffusion of non-reactive and reactive solutes through fine-grained barrier materials.” Can. Geotech. J., 21, 541–550.
Krapac, I. G. et al. (1991). “Construction, monitoring and performance of two soil liners.” Environmental Geology Rep. No. 141, Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, Ill.
Lucas, L. L., and Unterweger, M. P.(2000). “Comprehensive review and critical evaluation of the half-life of tritium.” J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol., 105, 541–549.
Malik, K. A. (1991). Maintenance of microorganisms and cultured cells, a manual of laboratory methods, 2nd Ed., Bekirsop and Adyole, eds., Academic, San Diego, 121–132.
Panno, S. V., Herzog, B. L., Cartwright, K., Rehfeldt, K. R., Krapac, I. G., and Hensel, B. R.(1991). “Field-scale investigation of infiltration into a compacted soil liner.” Ground Water, 29(6), 914–921.
Parker, J. C., and Van Genuchten, M. Th.(1984). “Flux averaged and volume averaged concentrations in continuum approaches to solute transport.” Water Resour., 20, 866–872.
Phillips, R. E., and Brown, D. A.(1968). “Self-diffusion of tritiated water in montmorillonite and kaolinite Clay.” Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 32, 302–306.
Rowe, R. K. (1987). “Pollutant transport through barriers.” Proc., Geotechnical Practice for Waste Disposal, ASCE, Ann Arbor, Mich., 159–181.
Rowe, R. K., Hsuan Y. G., Lake, C. B., Sangam, P., and Usher, S. (1998). “Evaluation of a composite (geomembrane/clay) liner for a lagoon after 14 years of use.” Proc., 6th International Conf. on Geosynthetics, Atlanta, 233–238.
Rowe R. K., Quigley, R. M., and Booker, J. R. (1995). Clayey barrier systems for waste disposal facilities, E & FN Spon, London, 390.
Roy, W. R., Krapac, I. G., Chou, S. F. J., and Griffin, R. A. (1991). “Batch-type procedures for estimating soil adsorption of chemicals,” Rep. No. US EPA/530-SW-87-006-F, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati.
Shackelford, C. D.(1991). “Laboratory diffusion testing for waste disposal-a review.” J. Contam. Hydrol., 7, 177–217.
Shackelford, C. D.(1994). “Critical concepts for column testing.” J. Geotech. Eng., 120(10), 1804–1828.
Shackelford, C. D., and Daniel, D. E.(1991). “Diffusion in saturated soil. II: results for compacted clay.” J. Geotech. Eng., 117(3), 485–506.
Shackelford, C. D., and Redmond, P. L.(1995). “Solute breakthrough curves for processed kaolin at low flow rates.” J. Geotech. Eng., 121(1), 17–32.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). (1988). “Design, construction and evaluation of clay liners for waste management facilities.” Rep. No. EPA/530-SW-86-007-F U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, Cincinnati.
Van Genuchten, M. Th., and Alves W. J. (1982). “Analytical solutions to the one-dimensional convective-dispersive solute transport equation.” Rep. No. 1661, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Riverside, Calif.
Young, D. F., and Ball, W. P.(1998). “Estimating diffusion coefficients in low permeability porous media using a macropore column.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 32, 2578–2584.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128 • Issue 8 • August 2002
Pages: 640 - 650
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 27, 2001
Accepted: Nov 26, 2001
Published online: Jul 15, 2002
Published in print: Aug 2002
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.