Stabilisation/solidification of 137Cs-contaminated soils using novel high-density grouts: γ-ray shielding properties, contaminant immobilisation and a γRS index-based approach for in situ applicability

Abstract

In this work, γ-ray shielding and Cs immobilisation performances of high-density magnetite (MG) and iron powder (IP) in Portland cement (PC) based-S/S treatment were investigated. Experimental results were elaborated using a γ-radiation shielding (γRS) index-based approach for assessing the effectiveness of in situ S/S of ¹³⁷Cs-contaminated soils. Main results reveal that the replacement of PC by MG or IP (up to 50%) leads to a marked increase (up to about 4-fold) in the γ-ray shielding performance, whereas a further material addition decreases the S/S shielding performance. The highest γRS index of ∼26% (662 keV) was found in the case of IP addition (33.3%). The use of MG-mixes allows reaching slightly slower γRS index jointly with the highest Cs-immobilisation of 97.8%. In this case, calculation shows a maximum ¹³⁷Cs-contamination level successfully treatable by in situ S/S up to ∼2.9 or ∼14.5 kBq kg^-1 for the realistic or low probability scenario, respectively, highlighting the possibility to remediate a very wide range of real contamination. Findings show MG - PC S/S as the best choice and could provide a basis for decision-making of S/S remediation of ¹³⁷Cs-contaminated sites.

Keywords: 137-cesium ((137)Cs); Effective dose; Environmental risk; High-density γ-ray shielding materials (iron powder, magnetite); Stabilisation/solidification; γRS index.