Adsorption of Ru, Ce and Eu radionuclides within naturally precipitated polycrystalline calcium carbonate under acidic environment.

Ru, Ce and Eu radiotracers sorption experiments (pH: 1-6) have been carried out with polycrystalline columnar/microcrystalline calcite and aragonite obtained from a stalagmite of Dharamjali cave, India. The different domains of the sample were powdered and thoroughly studied using electron microscopic and X-ray spectroscopic techniques. Both Ru and Ce exhibited higher sorption within calcite varieties compared to aragonite and increased with rising pH, while it showed reverse relation in case of Eu. Further, it is noted that aragonite offers the highest K values for Eu, whereas Ru and Ce prefer calcite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]