Arsenic and uranium are often found together at sites of historical uranium mining activity. The design of effective remediation strategies for such sites can be challenging because, under reducing conditions, uranium typically becomes immobilized as uraninite, while arsenic becomes more mobile as aqueous As(III). Anoxic batch reactors were setup in order to stimulate native bacteria in mine tailings sediments from North Cave Hills, SD using 10 mM lactate, acetate, or ethanol as electron donors, to examine the redox dynamics between As and U. Systems were spiked with either 168 �M arsenate or 168 �M uranyl, or both. XANES analysis of the sediments indicates that As and U were reduced only under sulfate reducing conditions. Little or no reduced As or U was observed in abiotic systems containing dissolved Fe(II) confirming that either sulfate-reducing bacteria or production of sulfide is necessary for As and U reduction in these systems.

Impact of biogeochemical redox processes on arsenic and uranium dynamics in mine tailings contaminated sediments

245th National Meeting (2013)

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