Description of the Radiological Decontamination by Electromigration in Saturated Concrete: A Multi Species Approach

A numerical model was developed in order to describe the electromigration of radioelements through contaminated concrete. The transport of several ionic species across a saturated sample of material, is described by the Nernst-Planck relation. The multi species approach provides a better understanding of the phenomena involved: it stresses the need to know, as precisely as possible, the material characteristics and the history of the contamination. The approach also sheds lights on the way the radionuclide (cesium 137) is carried away from a concrete sample during a decontamination simulation.