Sorption of radionuclides on the container wall during batch migration studies

The sorption of radionuclides on the wall of polypropylene centrifugetubes used for the batch migration study has been investigated. The parametersvaried were solution acidity, contact time, presence and physicochemical propertiesof geomedia. The radionuclides were ⁴⁶Sc, ⁶⁰Co, ⁷⁵Se, ⁸⁵Sr, ¹³⁴Cs and ²⁴¹Am, whichwere all gamma-ray emitters. It has been found that the sorption of radionuclideson the tube wall increased somewhat with increasing solution pH and the contactperiod in the control experiment, but decreased with increasing the cationexchange capacity of geologic materials in the batch experiment. Effects ofsorption on tube wall in the migration study is negligible in most but notall situations and should be corrected, not by the control experiment butby the batch experiment.