Simulation of Sr transport in soil column

In order to predict the dissemination of radioelement in soil, a reactive transport model must be able to simulate contaminant behavior in a complex physico-chemical context. In this study, a multi-site ion exchanger model combined with the classical advection-dispersion equation is successfully applied to predict Sr transport in a soil column. Reactivity is attributed to sorption properties of illite and smectite, major clay minerals present in the studied soil, towards Sr and Ca. Simulations are compared to two experiments performed on a saturated soil column. A good agreement is obtained meaning the dispersivity value adjustment to compensate a delay between simulation and data. This may result from illite and smectite cations exchange constant uncertainties or kinetic process. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.