砂岩铀矿原状岩心中铀的迁移模拟研究

Simulation of Uranium Migration in Undisturbed Cores from Sandstone-hosted Uranium Deposits

  • 摘要: 为评估CO2+O2地浸铀矿山退役后铀在砂岩含水层中的迁移规律及污染风险,需要研究铀在原状砂岩岩心中的迁移行为。鉴于直接开展岩心迁移实验存在困难,本研究通过砂岩颗粒的等温与动力学吸附实验获取吸附参数,结合格子Boltzmann方法(LBM)与三维CT数字岩心,建立了原状岩心中铀迁移的数值模型,并与岩心迁移实验进行了对比验证。结果表明,\mathrmHCO^-_3 对铀的吸附容量有显著影响;在含/不含\mathrmHCO^-_3 条件下,吸附行为均符合Langmuir等温模型与准二级动力学模型,拟合R2均高于0.97。基于D3Q19-LBM模型和吸附参数,在三维数字岩心中模拟铀迁移,结果表明,该模型能较好地再现岩心实验规律,说明在原状岩心尺度下,铀迁移仍遵循颗粒尺度吸附机制。本模型可有效替代复杂岩心实验,为含水层中铀迁移评估提供理论依据和技术支撑。

     

    Abstract: Uranium possesses both radiological and chemical toxicity, and its mining, especially through in-situ leaching (ISL) processes, has raised widespread environmental concerns, particularly regarding the contamination of groundwater systems. To accurately assess the potential risks of uranium pollutant migration in sandstone aquifers following the decommissioning of CO2+O2-based ISL uranium mines, it is essential to investigate the transport behavior of uranium under realistic subsurface geochemical conditions, especially in the presence of bicarbonate ions (\mathrmHCO^-_3 ), which play a key role in enhancing uranium mobility through complexation. However, direct migration experiments using undisturbed sandstone cores are often constrained by significant technical difficulties, including challenges in core preparation, experimental operation, and limited accessibility to dynamic migration data. To address these limitations, the comprehensive batch adsorption experiments were first conducted using sandstone particles under various \mathrmHCO^-_3 concentrations in this study. Both isothermal and kinetic adsorption tests were performed, and the fitting results show that uranium adsorption behavior best follows the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, with correlation coefficients (R2) exceeding 0.97. Subsequently, a three-dimensional uranium transport model incorporating adsorption effects was developed using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) with the D3Q19 lattice configuration. A high-resolution digital core model was reconstructed from micro-CT scans of the undisturbed sandstone sample, capturing the actual pore structure as the simulation domain. To verify the accuracy of the proposed model, the simulation results were compared with the uranium migration data that were obtained from physical core migration experiments conducted under different \mathrmHCO^-_3 conditions. The results demonstrate that uranium migration is significantly accelerated in the presence of \mathrmHCO^-_3 and notably delayed in its absence. The simulation outcomes are in strong agreement with experimental observations, confirming the validity of the derived parameters and the model’s predictive capability. Additionally, the results indicate that even at the core scale, uranium migration is still controlled by particle-scale adsorption mechanisms. The lattice points in contact with the pore surface follow both the Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, suggesting that micro-scale adsorption behavior has a significant impact on macroscopic transport processes. In conclusion, the digital core-based three-dimensional uranium transport model developed in this study serves as an effective and reliable supplement or alternative to traditional core-scale migration experiments. It also provides a digital twin framework for predicting uranium migration behavior in aquifers and assessing groundwater contamination risks during and after the closure of ISL uranium mining operations. This approach offers strong theoretical and methodological support for future environmental assessments and remediation planning.

     

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