Existing Form of ²⁴¹Am in Sandy Soil

The Tessier sequential extraction method was employed to study the existing form of ²⁴¹Am in sandy soil samples which were contaminated by radioactivity. In addition, the process was also applied to the soil into which ²⁴¹Am was added purposely. The experimental results reveal that the associations of ²⁴¹Am in two kinds of soils are quite different from each other. In the radioactively contaminated soil, a significant proportion of ²⁴¹Am was associated with residual phase. It indicates that ²⁴¹Am in the soil has rather low possibility for migration. However, the ²⁴¹Am in simulant soil was mainly associated with carbonate fraction for a long time after added into the soil. It indicates that ²⁴¹Am in simulant soil has high possibility for migration.