Products of in situ corrosion of depleted Uranium ammunition in Bosnia and Herzegovina soils

Détails

ID Serval
serval:BIB_F529C922963D
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Products of in situ corrosion of depleted Uranium ammunition in Bosnia and Herzegovina soils
Périodique
Environmental Science & Technology
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Wang Yuheng, von Gunten Konstantin, Bartova Barbora, Meisser Nicolas, Astner Markus, Burger Mario, Bernier-Latmani Rizlan
ISSN
0013-936X
ISSN-L
1520-5851
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
50
Numéro
22
Pages
12266-12274
Langue
anglais
Résumé
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 (UO3(H2O)2) was a main component of the two DU corrosion products. Moreover, studtite ((UO2)O2(H2O)2·2(H2O)) and becquerelite (Ca(UO2)6O4(OH)6·8(H2O)) 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.
Pubmed
Web of science
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Création de la notice
15/04/2021 11:35
Dernière modification de la notice
16/04/2021 6:35
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