Water-rock interactions and the pH stability of groundwater from Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Titrations of acidic solutions in waters from the tuff and carbonate aquifers at Yucca Mountain were simulated using the geochemical codes PHREEQE and EQ3/6. The simulations tested pH stability of the waters in the presence of different minerals and in their absence. Two acidic solutions, 10{sup {minus}4} HCl and 10{sup {minus}4}M UO{sub 2}(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}, were titrated in to the water. Little pH and/or compositional change resulted in the groundwater when the HCl solution was titrated, but significant pH and CO{sub 2} fugacity changes were observed when UO{sub 2}(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} was titrated. Water interactions with alkali feldspar, quartz or cristobalite, and Ca-smectite buffered the pH and compositional changes in the carbonate water and decreased the magnitude of pH and compositional changes when small volumes of UO{sub 2}(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} added to the tuffaceous waters

Different nonideality relationships, different databases and their effects on modeling precipitation from concentrated solutions using numerical speciation codes

Four simple precipitation problems are solved to examine the use of numerical equilibrium codes. The study emphasizes concentrated solutions, assumes both ideal and nonideal solutions, and employs different databases and different activity-coefficient relationships. The study uses the EQ3/6 numerical speciation codes. The results show satisfactory material balances and agreement between solubility products calculated from free-energy relationships and those calculated from concentrations and activity coefficients. Precipitates show slightly higher solubilities when the solutions are regarded as nonideal than when considered ideal, agreeing with theory. When a substance may precipitate from a solution dilute in the precipitating substance, a code may or may not predict precipitation, depending on the database or activity-coefficient relationship used. In a problem involving a two-component precipitation, there are only small differences in the precipitate mass and composition between the ideal and nonideal solution calculations. Analysis of this result indicates that this may be a frequent occurrence. An analytical approach is derived for judging whether this phenomenon will occur in any real or postulated precipitation situation. The discussion looks at applications of this approach. In the solutes remaining after the precipitations, there seems to be little consistency in the calculated concentrations and activity coefficients. They do not appear to depend in any coherent manner on the database or activity-coefficient relationship used. These results reinforce warnings in the literature about perfunctory or mechanical use of numerical speciation codes

Modeling exposure to depleted uranium in support of decommissioning at Jefferson Proving Ground, Indiana

Jefferson Proving Ground was used by the US Army Test and Evaluation Command for testing of depleted uranium munitions and closed in 1995 under the Base Realignment and Closure Act. As part of the closure of JPG, assessments of potential adverse health effects to humans and the ecosystem were conducted. This paper integrates recent information obtained from site characterization surveys at JPG with environmental monitoring data collected from 1983 through 1994 during DU testing. Three exposure scenarios were evaluated for potential adverse effects to human health: an occasional use scenario and two farming scenarios. Human exposure was minimal from occasional use, but significant risk were predicted from the farming scenarios when contaminated groundwater was used by site occupants. The human health risk assessments do not consider the significant risk posed by accidents with unexploded ordnance. Exposures of white-tailed deer to DU were also estimated in this study, and exposure rates result in no significant increase in either toxicological or radiological risks. The results of this study indicate that remediation of the DU impact area would not substantially reduce already low risks to humans and the ecosystem, and that managed access to JPG is a reasonable model for future land use options

Physical Processes in Star Formation

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00693-8.Star formation is a complex multi-scale phenomenon that is of significant importance for astrophysics in general. Stars and star formation are key pillars in observational astronomy from local star forming regions in the Milky Way up to high-redshift galaxies. From a theoretical perspective, star formation and feedback processes (radiation, winds, and supernovae) play a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of the physical processes at work, both individually and of their interactions. In this review we will give an overview of the main processes that are important for the understanding of star formation. We start with an observationally motivated view on star formation from a global perspective and outline the general paradigm of the life-cycle of molecular clouds, in which star formation is the key process to close the cycle. After that we focus on the thermal and chemical aspects in star forming regions, discuss turbulence and magnetic fields as well as gravitational forces. Finally, we review the most important stellar feedback mechanisms.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Depleted uranium risk assessment at Aberdeen Proving Ground

The Environmental Science Group at Los Alamos and the Test and Evaluation Command (TECOM) are assessing the risk of depleted uranium (DU) testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG). Conceptual and mathematical models of DU transfer through the APG ecosystem have been developed in order to show the mechanisms by which DU migrates or remains unavailable to different flora and fauna and to humans. The models incorporate actual rates of DU transfer between different ecosystem components as much as possible. Availability of data on DU transport through different pathways is scarce and constrains some of the transfer rates that can be used. Estimates of transfer rates were derived from literature sources and used in the mass-transfer models when actual transfer rates were unavailable. Objectives for this risk assessment are (1) to assess if DU transports away from impact areas; (2) to estimate how much, if any, DU migrates into Chesapeake Bay; (3) to determine if there are appreciable risks to the ecosystems due to DU testing; (4) to estimate the risk to human health as a result of DU testing

Physics book: CRYRING@ESR

The exploration of the unique properties of stored and cooled beams of highly-charged ions as provided by heavy-ion storage rings has opened novel and fascinating research opportunities in the realm of atomic and nuclear physics research. Since the late 1980s, pioneering work has been performed at the CRYRING at Stockholm (Abrahamsson et al. 1993) and at the Test Storage Ring (TSR) at Heidelberg (Baumann et al. 1988). For the heaviest ions in the highest charge-states, a real quantum jump was achieved in the early 1990s by the commissioning of the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt (Franzke 1987) where challenging experiments on the electron dynamics in the strong field regime as well as nuclear physics studies on exotic nuclei and at the borderline to atomic physics were performed. Meanwhile also at Lanzhou a heavy-ion storage ring has been taken in operation, exploiting the unique research opportunities in particular for medium-heavy ions and exotic nuclei (Xia et al. 2002)