[en] Uranium contaminated groundwaters are a legacy concern for the U.S. Department of Energy. Previous experiments at the Rifle, Colorado Integrated Field Challenge (IFC) site have demonstrated that field-scale addition of acetate to groundwater reduces the ambient soluable uranium concentration, sequestering the radionuclide as uraninite. However, questions remain regarding which microorganism(s) are consuming this acetate and if active groundwater microorganisms are different from active particle-associated bacteria. In this report, 13-C acetate was used to assess the active microbes that synthesize DNA on 3 size fractions (coarse sand, fines (8-approximately 150 micron), groundwater (0.2-8 micron)) over a 24 -day time frame. Results indicated a stronger signal from 13-C acetate associated with the 'fines' fraction compared with smaller amounts of 13-C uptake on the sand fraction and groundwater samples during the SIP incubations. TRFLP analysis of this 13-C-labeled DNA, indicated 31+ 9 OTU's with 6 peaks dominating the active profiles (166, 187, 210, 212, and 277 bp peaks using MnlI). Cloning/sequencing of the amplification products indicated a Geobacter-like group (187, 210, 212 bp) primarily synthesized DNA from acetate in the groundwater phase, an alpha Proteobacterium (166 bp) primarily grew on the fines/sands, and an Acinetobacter sp. (277 bp) utilized much of the 13C acetate in both groundwater and particle-associated phases. These findings will help to delineate the acetate utilization patterns of bacteria during field-scale acetate addition and can lead to improved methods for stimulating distinct microbial populations in situ.

[en] This work plan supports a new, integrated approach to accelerate cleanup of chromium in the Hanford 100 Areas. This new approach will provide supplemental treatment upgradient of the ISRM barrier by directly treating chromium and other oxidizing species in groundwater (i.e., nitrate and dissolved oxygen), thereby increasing the longevity of the ISRM barrier and protecting the ecological receptors and human health at the river boundary

[en] Biostimulation field experiments with acetate amendment are being performed at a former uranium mill tailings site in Rifle, Colorado, to investigate subsurface processes controlling in situ bioremediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater. An important part of the research is identifying and quantifying field-scale models of the principal terminal electron-accepting processes (TEAPs) during biostimulation and the consequent biogeochemical impacts to the subsurface receiving environment. Integrating abiotic chemistry with the microbially mediated TEAPs in the reaction network brings into play geochemical observations (e.g., pH, alkalinity, redox potential, major ions, and secondary minerals) that the reactive transport model must recognize. These additional constraints provide for a more systematic and mechanistic interpretation of the field behaviors during biostimulation. The reaction network specification developed for the 2002 biostimulation field experiment was successfully applied without additional calibration to the 2003 and 2007 field experiments. The robustness of the model specification is significant in that (1) the 2003 biostimulation field experiment was performed with 3 times higher acetate concentrations than the previous biostimulation in the same field plot (i.e., the 2002 experiment), and (2) the 2007 field experiment was performed in a new unperturbed plot on the same site. The biogeochemical reactive transport simulations accounted for four TEAPs, two distinct functional microbial populations, two pools of bioavailable Fe(III) minerals (iron oxides and phyllosilicate iron), uranium aqueous and surface complexation, mineral precipitation, and dissolution. The conceptual model for bioavailable iron reflects recent laboratory studies with sediments from the Old Rifle Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) site that demonstrated that the bulk (∼90%) of Fe(III) bioreduction is associated with the phyllosilicates rather than the iron oxides. The uranium reaction network includes a U(VI) surface complexation model based on laboratory studies with Old Rifle UMTRA sediments and aqueous complexation reactions that include ternary complexes (e.g., calcium-uranyl-carbonate). The bioreduced U(IV), Fe(II), and sulfide components produced during the experiments are strongly associated with the solid phases and may play an important role in long-term uranium immobilization

[en] Experiments at the Department of Energy's Rifle Integrated Field Research Challenge (IFRC) site near Rifle, Colorado (USA) have demonstrated the ability to remove uranium from groundwater by stimulating the growth and activity of Geobacter species through acetate amendment. Prolonging the activity of these strains in order to optimize uranium bioremediation has prompted the development of minimally-invasive and spatially-extensive monitoring methods diagnostic of their in situ activity and the end products of their metabolism. Here we demonstrate the use of complex resistivity imaging for monitoring biogeochemical changes accompanying stimulation of indigenous aquifer microorganisms during and after a prolonged period (100+ days) of acetate injection. A thorough raw-data statistical analysis of discrepancies between normal and reciprocal measurements and incorporation of a new power-law phase-error model in the inversion were used to significantly improve the quality of the resistivity phase images over those obtained during previous monitoring experiments at the Rifle IRFC site. The imaging results reveal spatiotemporal changes in the phase response of aquifer sediments, which correlate with increases in Fe(II) and precipitation of metal sulfides (e.g., FeS) following the iterative stimulation of iron and sulfate reducing microorganism. Only modest changes in resistivity magnitude were observed over the monitoring period. The largest phase anomalies (>40 mrad) were observed hundreds of days after halting acetate injection, in conjunction with accumulation of Fe(II) in the presence of residual FeS minerals, reflecting preservation of geochemically reduced conditions in the aquifer - a prerequisite for ensuring the long-term stability of immobilized, redox-sensitive contaminants, such as uranium.

[en] A Characterization of the Shiprock, NM, uranium mill tailing site focused on the geochemical and microbiological factors governing in-situ uranium-redox reactions. Groundwater and aqueous extracts of sediment samples contained a wide concentration range of sulfate, nitrate, and U(VI) with median values of 21.2 mM, 16.1um, and 2.7 um, respectively. Iron (III) was not detected in groundwater, but a median value of 0.3 mM in sediment extracts was measured. Bacterial diversity down gradient from the disposal pile reflected the predominant geochemistry with relatively high numbers of sulfate-and nitrate-reducing microorganisms, and smaller numbers of acetogenic, methanogenic, nitrate-dependent Fe(II)-oxidizing, Fe(III)-reducing, and sulfide oxidizing bacteria. In aquifer slurry incubations, nitrate reduction was always preferred and had a negative impact on sulfate-, Fe(III)-, and U-reduction rates. We also found that sulfate-reduction rates decreased sharply in the presence of clay, while Fe(III)-reduction increased with no clear impact on U reduction. In the absence of clay, iron and sulfate reduction correlated with concentrations of Fe(III) and sulfate, respectively. Rates of U(VI) loss did not correlate with the concentration of any electron acceptor. With the exception of Fe(III), electron donor amendment was largely unsuccessful in stimulating electron acceptor loss over a 1-week incubation period, suggesting that endogenous forms of organic matter were sufficient to support microbial activity. Our findings suggest that efforts to accelerate biological U reduction should initially focus on stimulating nitrate removal

[en] The activity of microorganisms often plays an important role in dynamic natural attenuation or engineered bioremediation of subsurface contaminants, such as chlorinated solvents, metals, and radionuclides. To evaluate and/or design bioremediated systems, quantitative reactive transport models are needed. State-of-the-art reactive transport models often ignore the microbial effects or simulate the microbial effects with static growth yield and constant reaction rate parameters over simulated conditions, while in reality microorganisms can dynamically modify their functionality (such as utilization of alternative respiratory pathways) in response to spatial and temporal variations in environmental conditions. Constraint-based genome-scale microbial in silico models, using genomic data and multiple-pathway reaction networks, have been shown to be able to simulate transient metabolism of some well studied microorganisms and identify growth rate, substrate uptake rates, and byproduct rates under different growth conditions. These rates can be identified and used to replace specific microbially-mediated reaction rates in a reactive transport model using local geochemical conditions as constraints. We previously demonstrated the potential utility of integrating a constraint based microbial metabolism model with a reactive transport simulator as applied to bioremediation of uranium in groundwater. However, that work relied on an indirect coupling approach that was effective for initial demonstration but may not be extensible to more complex problems that are of significant interest (e.g., communities of microbial species, multiple constraining variables). Here, we extend that work by presenting and demonstrating a method of directly integrating a reactive transport model (FORTRAN code) with constraint-based in silico models solved with IBM ILOG CPLEX linear optimizer base system (C library). The models were integrated with BABEL, a language interoperability tool. The modeling system is designed in such a way that constraint-based models targeting different microorganisms or competing organism communities can be easily plugged into the system. Constraint-based modeling is very costly given the size of a genome-scale reaction network. To save computation time, a binary tree is traversed to examine the concentration and solution pool generated during the simulation in order to decide whether the constraint-based model should be called. We also show preliminary results from the integrated model including a comparison of the direct and indirect coupling approaches.

[en] U(VI) adsorption by two aquifer sediment samples was studied under oxic conditions as a function of pH, U(VI), Ca, and dissolved carbonate concentration. Background-A (BKG-A) sediment was collected upstream of a former uranium mill-tailings site at Rifle, Colorado, and Little Rusty Composite (LRC) was collected on site but with low U contamination. Batch adsorption experiments were performed using artificial groundwater solutions prepared to simulate the field groundwater composition in equilibrium with specific partial pressures of carbon dioxide. To encompass the geochemical conditions of the alluvial aquifer at the site, the experimental conditions ranged from 6.8 x 10^-8 to 10^-5 M in [U(VI)]tot, 7.2 to 8.0 in pH, 3.0 x 10^-3 to 6.0 x 10^-3 M in [Ca²⁺], and 0.05 to 2.6% in partial pressure of carbon dioxide. The sediment was extracted with a dilute bicarbonate/carbonate solution to determine the background labile U(VI) already present in the sediment. A semi-empirical surface complexation model was developed to describe U(VI) adsorption using FITEQL4. The non-electrostatic, generalized composite surface complexation model successfully simulated U(VI) adsorption over the range of groundwater conditions at the Old Rifle site, using a two-site, two-reaction fitting scheme. The sensitivity of model parameters to background U(VI) concentration on the two samples was evaluated. U(VI) adsorption experiments were also performed using a sand fraction of BKG-A separated through repeated sonication and wet-sieving. Surface area normalized Kd for the bulk and sand fraction indicated similar reactivity for both. The surface complexation model developed in this work is expected to contribute to the prediction of fate and transport of U(VI) in the alluvial aquifer at the Old Rifle site, and to assist in the simulation of biostimulation field experiments performed at the site.

[en] Aqueous uranium (U(VI)) concentrations in a contaminated aquifer in Rifle Colorado have been successfully lowered through electron donor amended bioreduction. Samples collected during the acetate amendment experiment were analyzed for aqueous concentrations of Fe(II), sulfate, sulfide, acetate, U(VI), and (delta)³⁴S of sulfate and sulfide to explore the utility of sulfur isotopes as indicators of in situ acetate amended sulfate and uranium bioreduction processes. Enrichment of up to 7 (per_thousand) in (delta)³⁴S of sulfate in down-gradient monitoring wells indicates a transition to elevated bacterial sulfate reduction. A depletion in Fe(II), sulfate, and sulfide concentrations at the height of sulfate reduction, along with an increase in the (delta)³⁴S of sulfide to levels approaching the d34S values of sulfate, indicates sulfate limited conditions concurrent with a rebound in U(VI) concentrations. Upon cessation of acetate amendment, sulfate and sulfide concentrations increased, while (delta)³⁴S values of sulfide returned to less than -20(per_thousand) and sulfate (delta)³⁴S decreased to near-background values, indicating lower levels of sulfate reduction accompanied by a corresponding drop in U(VI). Results indicate a transition between electron donor and sulfate-limited conditions at the height of sulfate reduction and suggest stability of biogenic FeS precipitates following the end of acetate amendment

[en] Microorganisms, either directly or indirectly, can alter the oxidation states of uranium and technetium resulting in their precipitation as sparingly soluble solid-phases. This process, in concept, can render these contaminants immobile for long time periods. ⁹⁹Tc is a radionuclide that contributes significantly to estimates of future human health risk at the Hanford Site because of its longevity and mobility in the subsurface environment. It exists at high concentrations (up to 30,000 pCi/L) in the central areas of the site where the groundwater table is deep, and is predicted to move to the Columbia River within the next decade. It also has been observed at lower concentrations (600 pCi/L) in shallow groundwater near the river in the 100 H area. The purpose of this project is to assess the feasibility of stimulating the in situ subsurface microbiota at the Hanford Site to reduce and immobilize ⁹⁹Tc. The concept and approach proposed has evolved from NABIR-funded research that is maturing to the point that it is now appropriate to pursue site-specific research to establish field-scale proof-of-concept. Although this project focuses on assessment of biostimulation approaches for reducing and immobilizing ⁹⁹Tc in the shallow groundwater system of the 100 H area at the Hanford Site, it is anticipated that the information will be applicable to other contaminants and site conditions at Hanford, and possibly elsewhere, within the DOE weapons production complex. The initial objective of the project is to determine if indigenous microorganisms in aquifer sediments at Hanford can be stimulated to either directly or indirectly, via Fe(II), immobilize ⁹⁹Tc. If this is shown to be the case, two additional objectives will be addressed: (1) Devise an electron donor addition strategy for stimulating indigenous microorganisms to immobilize ⁹⁹Tc in situ, and (2) Evaluate the feasibility and develop a research plan including design parameters, if warranted, for an in situ biostimulation experiment at the Hanford Site.

[en] Understanding how hydrological and biogeochemical properties change over space and time in response to remedial treatments is hindered by our ability to monitor these processes with sufficient resolution and over field relevant scales. Here, we explored the use of geophysical approaches for monitoring the spatiotemporal distribution of hydrological and biogeochemical transformations associated with a Cr(VI)bioremediation experiment performed at Hanford, WA. We first integrated hydrological wellbore and geophysical tomographic datasets to estimate hydrological zonation at the study site. Using results from laboratory biogeophysical experiments and constraints provided by field geochemical datasets, we then interpreted time-lapse seismic and radar tomographic datasets, collected during thirteen acquisition campaigns over a three year experimental period, in terms of hydrological and biogeochemical transformations. The geophysical monitoring datasets were used to infer: the spatial distribution of injected electron donor; the evolution of gas bubbles; variations in total dissolved solids (nitrate and sulfate) as a function of pumping activity; the formation of precipitates and dissolution of calcites; and concomitant changes in porosity. Although qualitative in nature, the integrated interpretation illustrates how geophysical techniques have the potential to provide a wealth of information about coupled hydrobiogeochemical responses to remedial treatments in high spatial resolution and in a minimally invasive manner. Particularly novel aspects of our study include the use of multiple lines of evidence to constrain the interpretation of a long-term, field-scale geophysical monitoring dataset and the interpretation of the transformations as a function of hydrological heterogeneity and pumping activity