GS22A-01 INVITED
The Nopal 1 Uranium Deposit: an Overview
The Nopal 1 natural analogue is located in the Pena Blanca uranium district, about 50 kms north of Chihuahua City, Mexico. The deposit is hosted in tertiary ignimbritic ash-flow tuffs, dated at 44 Ma (Nopal and Colorados formations), and overlying the Pozos conglomerate formation and a sequence of Cretaceous carbonate rocks. The deposit is exposed at the ground surface and consists of a near vertical zone extending over about 100 m with a diameter of 40 m. An interesting characteristic is that the primary mineralization has been exposed above the water table, as a result of the uplift of the Sierra Pena Blanca, and subsequently oxidized with a remobilization of hexavalent uranium. The primary mineralization has been explained by various genetic models. It is associated to an extensive hydrothermal alteration of the volcanic tuffs, locally associated to pyrite and preserved by an intense silicification. Several kaolinite parageneses occur in fissure fillings and feldspar pseudomorphs, within the mineralized breccia pipe and the barren surrounding rhyolitic tuffs. Smectites are mainly developed in the underlying weakly welded tuffs. Several radiation-induced defect centers have been found in these kaolinites providing a unique picture of the dynamics of uranium mobilization (see Allard et al., this session). Another evidence of this mobilization is given by the spectroscopy of uranium-bearing opals, which show characteristic fluorescence spectra of uranyl groups sorbed at the surface of silica. By comparison with the other uranium deposits of the Sierra Pena Blanca and the nearby Sierra de Gomez, the Nopal 1 deposit is original, as it is one of the few deposits hving retained a reduced uranium mineralization.
GS22A-02
Modeling of U-series Radionuclide Transport Through Soil at Pena Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico
The Nopal I uranium deposit is located at Pena Blanca in Chihuahua, Mexico. Mining of high-grade uranium ore occurred in the early 1980s, with the ore stockpiled nearby. The stockpile was mostly cleared in the 1990s; however, some of the high-grade boulders have remained there, creating localized sources of radioactivity for a period of 25-30 years. This provides a unique opportunity to study radionuclide transport, because the study area did not have any uranium contamination predating the stockpile in the 1980s. One high-grade boulder was selected for study based upon its shape, location, and high activity. The presumed drip-line off of the boulder was marked, samples from the boulder surface were taken, and then the boulder was moved several feet away. Soil samples were taken from directly beneath the boulder, around the drip-line, and down slope. Eight of these samples were collected in a vertical profile directly beneath the boulder. Visible flakes of boulder material were removed from the surficial soil samples, because they would have higher concentrations of U-series radionuclides and cause the activities in the soil samples to be excessively high. The vertical sampling profile used 2-inch thicknesses for each sample. The soil samples were packaged into thin plastic containers to minimize the attenuation and to standardize sample geometry, and then they were analyzed by gamma-ray spectroscopy with a Ge(Li) detector for Th-234, Pa-234, U-234, Th-230, Ra-226, Pb-214, Bi-214, and Pb-210. The raw counts were corrected for self-attenuation and normalized using BL-5, a uranium standard from Beaverlodge, Saskatchewan. BL-5 allowed the counts obtained on the Ge(Li) to be referenced to a known concentration or activity, which was then applied to the soil unknowns for a reliable calculation of their concentrations. Gamma ray spectra of five soil samples from the vertical profile exhibit decreasing activities with increasing depth for the selected radionuclides. Independent multi-element analyses of three samples by ICP-MS show decreasing uranium concentration with depth as well. The transport of the radionuclides is evaluated using STANMOD, a Windows-based software package for evaluating solute transport in porous media using analytical solutions of the advection-dispersion solute transport equation. The package allows various one-dimensional, advection-dispersion parameters to be determined by fitting mathematical solutions of theoretical transport models to observed data. The results are promising for future work on the release rate of radionuclides from the boulder, the dominant mode of transport (e.g., particulate or dissolution), and the movement of radionuclides through porous media. The measured subsurface transport rates provide modelers with a model validation dataset.
GS22A-03
Increased Concentrations of Short-Lived Decay-Series Radionuclides in Groundwaters Underneath the Nopal I Uranium Deposit at Pena Blanca, Mexico
The Nopal I uranium ore deposit at Pena Blanca, Mexico, located at > 200 meters above the groundwater table, provides an ideal natural analog for quantifying the effectiveness of geological barrier for isolation of radioactive waste nuclides from reaching the human environments through ground water transport. To fulfill such natural analog studies, three wells (PB1, PB2, and PB3 respectively) were drilled at the site from the land surface down to the saturated groundwater zone and ground waters were collected from each of these wells through large- volume sampling/in-situ Mn-filter filtration for analyses of short-lived uranium/thorium-series radionuclides. Our measurements from PB1 show that the groundwater standing in the hole has much lower 222Rn activity than the freshly pumped groundwater. From this change in 222Rn activity, we estimate the residence time of groundwater in PB1 to be about 20 days. Our measurements also show that the activities of short-lived radioisotopes of Th (234Th), Ra (228Ra, 224Ra, 223Ra), Rn (222Rn), Pb (210Pb), and Po (210Po) in PB1, PB2, and PB3 are all significantly higher than those from the other wells near the Nopal I site. These high activities provide evidence for the enrichment of long-lived U and Ra isotopes in the groundwater as well as in the associated adsorbed phases on the fractured aquifer rocks underneath the ore deposit. Such enrichment suggests a rapid dissolution of U and Ra isotopes from the uranium ore deposit in the vadose zone and the subsequent migration to the groundwater underneath. A reactive transport model can be established to characterize the in-situ transport of radionuclides at the site. The observed change of 222Rn activity at PB1 also suggests that the measured high radioactivityies in ground waters from the site isare not an artifact of drilling operations. However, further studies are needed to assess if or to what extent the radionuclide migration is affected by the previous mining activities at the site.
GS22A-04
Radiation-Induced Defects in Kaolinite as Tracers of Past Occurrence of Radionuclides in a Natural Analogue of High Level Nuclear Waste Repository
Understanding the processes controlling migrations of radioelements at the Earth's surface is an important issue for the long-term safety assessment of high level nuclear waste repositories (HLNWR). Evidence of past occurrence and transfer of radionuclides can be found using radiation-induced defects in minerals. Clay minerals are particularly relevant because of their widespread occurrence at the Earth's surface and their finely divided nature which provides high contact area with radioactive fluids. Owing to its sensitivity to radiations, kaolinite can be used as natural, in situ dosimeter. Kaolinite is known to contain radiation-induced defects which are detected by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance. They are differentiated by their nature, their production kinetics and their thermal stability. One of these defects is stable at the scale of geological periods and provides a record of past radionuclide occurrence. Based on artificial irradiations, a methodology has been subsequently proposed to determine paleodose cumulated by kaolinite since its formation. The paleodose can be used to derive equivalent radioelement concentrations, provided that the age of kaolinite formation can be constrained. This allows quantitative reconstruction of past transfers of radioelements in natural systems. An example is given for the Nopal I U-deposit (Chihuahua, Mexico), hosted in hydrothermally altered volcanic tufs and considered as analogue of the Yucca Mountain site. The paleodoses experienced by kaolinites were determined from the concentration of defects and dosimetry parameters of experimental irradiations. Using few geochemical assumption, a equivalent U-content responsible for defects in kaolinite was calculated from the paleodose, a dose rate balance and model ages of kaolinites constrained by tectonic phases. In a former study, the ages were assumptions derived from regional tectonic events. In thepresent study, ages of mineralization events are measured from U systematics. The corresponding results reveal past accumulation of uranium in the mineralized zone and past leaching in the fissure network of the present barren rock. Geochemical implications for HLNWR will be discussed.
GS22A-05
Wind Transport of Radionuclide- Bearing Dust, Peña Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico
This investigation evaluates radionuclide fractionation during wind erosion of high-grade uranium ore storage piles at Peña Blanca (50km north of Chihuahua City), Chihuahua, Mexico. The aridity of the local environment promotes dust resuspension by high winds. Although active operations ceased in 1983, the Peña Blanca mining district is one of Mexico`s most important uranium ore reserves. The study site contains piles of high grade ore, left loose on the surface, and separated by the specific deposits from which they were derived (Margaritas, Nopal I, and Puerto I). Similar locations do not exist in the United States, since uranium mining sites in the USA have been reclaimed. The Peña Blanca site serves as an analog for the Yucca Mountain project. Dust deposition is collected at Peña Blanca with BSNE sediment catchers (Fryrear, 1986) and marble dust traps (Reheis, 1999). These devices capture windblown sediment; subsequently, the sample data will help quantify potentially radioactive short term field sediment loss from the repository surface and determine sediment flux. Aerosols and surface materials will be analyzed and radioactivity levels established utilizing techniques such as gamma spectroscopy. As a result, we will be able to estimate how much radionuclide contaminated dust is being transported or attached geochemically to fine grain soils or minerals (e.g., clays or iron oxides). The high-grade uranium-bearing material is at secular equilibrium, thus the entire decay series is present. Of resulting interest is not only the aeolian transport of uranium, but also of the other daughter products. These studies will improve our understanding of geochemical cycling of radionuclides with respect to sources, transport, and deposition. The results may also have important implications for the geosciences and homeland security, and potential applications to public health. Funding for this project is provided in part via a NSF grant to Arimoto.