Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences

We present herein our results regarding the barium and strontium concentrations and speciation in groundwater collected monthly (in July, August, September and October 2012) in the area of a future repository of weak and medium radioactive waste situated next to the village Saligny (Romania). By means of atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomization using a graphite furnace, it was established that all collected samples contained barium and strontium in various concentrations (Ba: 0.428 mg/L – 0.003 mg/L; Sr: 5.807 mg/L – 0.076 mg/L). Aqueous speciation calculations were performed by means of the PHREEQC software, by using the thermodynamic database LLNL (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory). It was accordingly established that the prevalent chemical species were the Ba²⁺ and Sr²⁺ cations. Further on, a principal component analysis has been conducted to confirm that the results obtained are in agreement with the theoretical model.