Use of experimental results to model experiments; Bio-denitrification under geological disposal conditions

Masuda, Kaoru*; Murakami, Hiroshi*; Kurimoto, Noritaka*; Kato, Osamu*; Kato, Ko*; Honda, Akira

Some of the low level radioactive wastes from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels contain nitrates. Nitrates can be present in the form of soluble salts and be reduced by microorganisms. In this study, experiments of the nitrate reduction reaction were conducted using model organic materials purported to exist in underground conditions relevant to geological disposal. A reaction model was developed and verified by running simulations against data obtained from experiments using actual groundwaters and microorganisms. The simulation showed a good correlation with the experimental data and contributes to the understanding of microbially mediated denitrification in geological disposal systems.