Nitrate and colloid transport through coarse Hanford sediments under steady state, variably saturated flow

At the U. S. Department of Energy's Hanford Reservation, colloid-facilitated transport is a potential mechanism for accelerated movement of radionuclides like Cs-137. Here we investigate the transport of colloids through Hanford sediments under steady state, unsaturated flow conditions. We isolated colloids from Hanford sediments by dispersion and sedimentation and determined colloid breakthrough curves in packed sediment columns. A column system was developed with which we could control volumetric water contents with accuracy better than 0.01 effective saturation and the water potentials to better than 0.06 cm-H2O. Inflow and outflow boundary conditions had to be meticulously controlled to ensure uniformity of water contents and water potentials inside the column. Colloid breakthrough curves were determined under a series of water contents ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 effective saturation. Colloids were mobile under all water saturations, but the total amount of colloids transported decreased with decreasing water saturation. Colloid behavior was described with the mobile-immobile model concept, including first-order deposition from the mobile phase only.