Evaluation of iodine speciation and 129I/127I ratios at low concentrations in environmental samples using IC-ICP-MS

A paradigm shift for evaluating natural attenuation of radioactive iodine in soils and sediments: Species-specific mechanisms and pathways

The primary approach to assessing monitored natural attenuation (MNA) is currently based on a conceptual model utilizing the total contaminant concentrations, assuming a single aqueous species. However, many contaminants, such as metals and radionuclide - including iodine, can exist in multiple species that behave chemically differently in the environment and can exist simultaneously. For example, radioiodine often occurs concurrently as three major aqueous species: iodide (I-), iodate (IO3-), and organo-I, which undergo distinct attenuation pathways and exhibit markedly different mobility and geochemical behavior. Here, current literature is reviewed with the objective to: 1) demonstrate differences in iodine species' geochemical behavior and natural attenuation mechanisms; 2) show that a species-specific (or multi-species) approach provides greater details on contaminant migration and attenuation; and (3) discuss the logistics of a species-specific approach to developing conceptual models for assessing overall contaminant mobility. The species-specific approach results in a more accurate assessment of mass flux and maximum groundwater concentrations; and, therefore, a more defensible risk evaluation to support short- or long-term remediation and/or natural attenuation strategies. Although iodine is the focus of this paper, this methodology could be applied to other risk-driving contaminants such as mercury and uranium, which have even more complex aqueous speciation than iodine, or technetium and chromium, which have complex solid phase speciation and natural attenuation reaction networks. Accounting for species-specific geochemical behavior, while implementing MNA strategies can greatly reduce uncertainty, and, therefore, remedial costs required to ultimately achieve remediation regulatory objectives.

Measurement of trace 129I in natural water with ozone reaction for effective separation of spectral interferences

Tandem quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has the potential capability to measure 129I at extremely low concentration if spectral interferences from 129Xe and 127I1H2 can be eliminated effectively. Ozone was introduced as the reaction gas, resulting significantly improved reactions of (129I+→129I16O+) and (129I+→129I16O2 +), and permitted the highly sensitive measurement of 129I+ as 129I16O+ and 129I16O2 +, helping eliminate spectral interferences related to 129Xe+ and 127I1H2 +. In isotopic ratio (129I/127I) analysis by measuring (129I+→129I16O2 +)/(127I+→127I16O2 +), a blank ratio of 6.7 × 10-10 can be realized for a solution of 500 μg/mL natural iodine, improved by one order of magnitude than the best performance previous reported. This technique contributes to the measurement of trace level 129I, a radionuclide of iodine attracting attentions as a geochemical tracer related to the development and civilian use of nuclear energy as well as a regulated radionuclide with guidance levels in drinking water established by the World Health Organization.

Comparison of dissolved iodine measurements in seawater between inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and voltammetry

Two analytical methods, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) combined with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and voltammetry (VM), for three chemical species of dissolved iodine (iodide, iodate, and total dissolved iodine: TDI) were compared for dozens of coastal seawater samples owing to the compatibility of data between both methods. The median differences in the measured concentrations of TDI, total inorganic dissolved iodine (TII, the sum of iodide and iodate), and iodate between ICP-MS and VM were equivalent to 9.2, 13, and 14%, respectively. These differences were within the ranges that could be explained by the repeated-measurement precision of each measurement method for TDI, TII, and iodate. The difference for iodide was 19%, which was larger than the value based on the repeated-measurement precision for both methods. This is considered to be caused by the chemical instability and lower concentrations of iodide compared to other iodine species in seawater, in addition to the heterogeneity of natural samples. Finally, both methods provided reasonable measurement values for the iodine concentration in natural seawater samples.

Iodine revisited: If and how inorganic iodine species can be measured reliably and what cause their conversions in water?

This study revisited a list of inorganic iodine species on their detections and conversions under different water conditions. Several surprising results were found, e.g., UV-vis spectrophotometry is the only reliable method for I3- and I2 determinations with coexisting I-/IO3-/IO4-, while alkaline eluent of IC and LC columns can convert them into I- completely; IO4- can be converted into IO3- completely in IC columns and partly in LC columns; a small portion of IO3- was reduced to I- in LC columns. To avoid errors, a method for detecting multiple coexisting iodine species is suggested as follows: firstly, detecting I3- and I2 via UV-vis spectrophotometry; then, analyzing IO4- (> 0.2 mg/L) through LC; and lastly, obtaining I- and IO3- concentrations by deducting I- and IO3- measured by IC from the signals derived from I3-/I2/IO4-. As for stability, I- or IO3- alone is stable, but mixing them up generates I2 or H2OI+ under acidic conditions. Although IO4- is stable within pH 4.0-8.0, it becomes H5IO6/H3IO62- in strongly acidic/alkaline solutions. Increasing pH accelerates the conversions of I3- and I2 into I- under basic conditions, whereas dissolved oxygen and dosage exert little effect. Additionally, spiking ICl into water produces I2 and IO3- rather than HIO.

Study on Tritium and Iodine Species Transport through Porous Granite: A Non-Sorption Effect by Anion Exclusion

The safety of deep geological repositories is important in the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). In this study, advection−dispersion experiments were designed to build a transport model through a calibration/validation process, and the transport behavior of tritiated water (HTO) and various iodine species (iodide: I− and iodate: IO3−) was studied on a dynamic compacted granite column. Breakthrough curves (BTCs) were plotted under various flow rates (1−5 mL/min). BTCs showed that the non-sorption effect by anion exclusion was observed only in I− transport because the retardation factor (R) of I− was lower than that of HTO (R = 1). Moreover, equilibrium and nonequilibrium transport models were used and compared to identify the mobile/immobile zones in the compacted granite column. The anion exclusion effect was influenced by the immobile zones in the column. The non-sorption effect by anion exclusion (R < 1) was only observed for I− at 5.0 ± 0.2 mL/min flow rate, and a relatively higher Coulomb’s repulsive force may be caused by the smaller hydration radius of I−(3.31 Å) than that of IO3−(3.74 Å).

An Improved Speciation Method Combining IC with ICPOES and Its Application to Iodide and Iodate Diffusion Behavior in Compacted Bentonite Clay

An accurate and effective method combining ion chromatography (IC) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was applied in this work to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze individual and co-existing iodide (I⁻) and iodate (IO₃⁻) at various concentrations. More specifically, a very strong linear relationship for the peak area for the co-existing I⁻ and IO₃⁻ ions was reached, and a high resolution value between two peaks was observed, which proves the effectiveness of our combined IC-ICP-OES method at analyzing iodine species. We observed lower accessible porosity for the diffusion of both I⁻ and IO₃⁻ in samples of bentonite clay using IC-ICP-OES detection methods, where the effective diffusion coefficient varied based on the anion exclusion effect and the size of the diffusing molecules. In fact, the distribution coefficients (K_d) of both I⁻ and IO₃⁻ were close to 0, which indicates that there was no adsorption on bentonite clay. This finding can be explained by the fact that no change in speciation took place during the diffusion of I⁻ and IO₃⁻ ions in bentonite clay. Our IC-ICP-OES method can be used to estimate the diffusion coefficients of various iodine species in natural environments.