International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Research Applications and Utilization of Accelerators

4-8 May 2009, Vienna

The Canadian Light Source: A Novel Tool in the Search for Environmental Sustainability

J.N. Cutler, J. Warner, and T. Ellis

Canadian Light Source Inc., University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Corresponding Author: Jeffrey.Cutler@lightsource.ca

As applied research moves into the 21st century, industry is discovering that traditional analytical techniques are not answering all of their questions. For example, new materials are being developed daily that may have significantly different properties but are chemically indistinguishable using current analysis techniques. It is important for industry to understand these differences and be able to go back to the laboratory and impart those unique properties to a new product. Therefore, today, industry is turning to new tools to shed light on old and new questions. In a similar manner, environmental waste management is motivating many proactive industries to move toward new technologies that will provide answers to environmental questions yet to be asked. Within the mining sector, the ability to understand and predict the long-term stability and future bioavailability of metals (e.g., arsenic) in mine waste is critical for operation and absolutely essential to their capacity to decommission that site in the future. Currently, the environmental impact of tailings is monitored and stability is predicted by combining thermodynamic models with powder x-ray diffraction data to determine material composition and with assorted wet chemistry techniques to determine total species concentrations. Although these techniques have supplied a significant amount of important ecological information, increasing pressure from environmental groups demand more detailed information beyond the range of these procedures. To obtain this increasing level of detail, scientist are turning to more sophisticated analytical tools such as such as synchrotron radiation-based x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) for insight. XAS is a powerful probe that can directly determine the oxidation states and local chemical surroundings of a metal and thereby increase our understanding of its long term environmental impact.

With environmental stewardship being of global concern, the Canadian Light Source (CLS), a 2.9 GeV synchrotron facility located at the University of Saskatchewan, is taking a leadership in role in the area of mine waste characterization. This presentation will discuss various mine impacted sites and the role facilities like the CLS play in our search for environmental sustainability.