Sorption of radionuclides on the container wall during batch migration studies

The sorption of radionuclides on the wall of polypropylene centrifuge tubes used for the batch migration study has been investigated. The parameters varied were solution acidity, contact time, presence and physicochemical properties of geomedia. The radionuclides were ⁴⁶Sc, ⁶⁰Co, ⁷⁵Se, ⁸⁵Sr, ¹³⁴Cs and ²⁴¹Am, which were all gamma-ray emitters. It has been found that the sorption of radionuclides on the tube wall increased somewhat with increasing solution pH and the contact period in the control experiment, but decreased with increasing the cation exchange capacity of geologic materials in the batch experiment. Effects of sorption on tube wall in the migration study is negligible in most but not all situations and should be corrected, not by the control experiment but by the batch experiment.