Reaction-Based Reactive Transport Modeling of Fe(III) and U(V) Reduction

Our new research project (started Fall 2004) was funded by a grant to The Pennsylvania State University, University of Central Florida, and The University of Alabama in the Integrative Studies Element of the NABIR Program (DE-FG04-ER63914/63915/63196). Our previous NABIR project (DE-FG02-01ER63180/63181/63182, funded within the Biotransformation Element) focused on (1) microbial reduction of Fe(III) and U(VI) individually, and concomitantly in natural sediments, (2) Fe(III) oxide surface chemistry, specifically with respect to reactions with Fe(II) and U(VI), (3) the influence of humic substances on Fe(III) and U(VI) bioreduction, and on U(VI) complexation, and (4) the development of reaction-based reactive transport biogeochemical models to numerically simulate our experimental results. The new project focuses on the development of a mechanistic understanding and quantitative models of coupled Fe(III)/U(VI) reduction in FRC Area 2 sediments. This work builds on our previous studies of microbial Fe(III) and U(VI) reduction, and is directly aligned with the Scheibe et al. NABIR FRC Field Project at Area 2