Products of in Situ Corrosion of Depleted Uranium Ammunition in Bosnia and Herzegovina Soils.

Products of in Situ Corrosion of Depleted Uranium Ammunition in Bosnia and Herzegovina Soils.

Wang, Yuheng;von Gunten, Konstantin;Bartova, Barbora;Meisser, Nicolas;Astner, Markus;Burger, Mario;Bernier-Latmani, Rizlan;
Environmental science & technology 2016 Vol. 50 pp. 12266-12274
142
wang2016productsenvironmental

Abstract

Hundreds of tons of depleted uranium (DU) ammunition were used in previous armed conflicts in Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia/Kosovo. The majority (>90%) of DU penetrators miss their target and, if left in the environment, corrode in these postconflict zones. Thus, the best way to understand the fate of bulk DU material in the environment is to characterize the corrosion products of intact DU penetrators under field conditions for extended periods of time. However, such studies are scarce. To fill this knowledge gap, we characterized corrosion products formed from two intact DU penetrators that remained in soils in Bosnia and Herzegovina for over seven years. We used a combination of X-ray powder diffraction, electron microscopy, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The results show that metaschoepite (UO(HO)) was a main component of the two DU corrosion products. Moreover, studtite ((UO)O(HO)·2(HO)) and becquerelite (Ca(UO)O(OH)·8(HO)) were also identified in the corrosion products. Their formation through transformation of metaschoepite was a result of the geochemical conditions under which the penetrators corroded. Moreover, we propose that the transformation of metaschoepite to becquerelite or studtite in the DU corrosion products would decrease the potential for mobilization of U from corroded DU penetrators exposed to similar environments in postconflict areas.

Access

Citation

ID: 82234
Ref Key: wang2016productsenvironmental
Use this key to autocite in SciMatic or Thesis Manager

References

Blockchain Verification

Account:
NFT Contract Address:
0x95644003c57E6F55A65596E3D9Eac6813e3566dA
Article ID:
82234
Unique Identifier:
Network:
Scimatic Chain (ID: 481)
Loading...
Blockchain Readiness Checklist
Authors
Abstract
Journal Name
Year
Title
5/5
Creates 1,000,000 NFT tokens for this article
Token Features:
  • ERC-1155 Standard NFT
  • 1 Million Supply per Article
  • Transferable via MetaMask
  • Permanent Blockchain Record
Blockchain QR Code
Scan with Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet

Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet