Constant‐Flux Absorption of a Tritiated Calcium Chloride Solution by a Clay Soil with Anion Exclusion

Abstract
The distribution of water, tritium, and chloride was measured following horizontal constant‐flux absorption of a tritiated CaCl2 solution by a Ca‐saturated clay soil. Water contents throughout the soil were < 80% of saturation at all times. The position of the tritium front corresponded closely with the interface which would exist between the initial and the inflowing solutions if the former were completely displaced by the latter. There was therefore no evidence of immobile water in these experiments. The chloride front moved ahead of the tritium front and the measured chloride concentrations throughout the soil were less than the concentration of the inflowing solution, although all of the added chloride was recovered. The behavior of the chloride relative to tritium is accounted for by anion exclusion.Tritium concentration profiles were accurately predicted using a theory described earlier. Difficulties were encountered, however, in extending this theory to the case of an excluded anion but an approximate predictive scheme is discussed. Areas for further work are outlined.

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