Developing a novel computer visualization system to simulate the uranium upward transport mechanism: Uranium pollution in arid landscapes.

Uranium (U) is a naturally occurring, radioactive, toxic trace element that poses severe risks to public and environmental health. Depleted uranium (DU) is widely used in military munitions, including penetrators. Our previous studies showed that in arid landscapes, water-soluble U released from corroded DU penetrators that were buried underground were co-transported upwards with water by evaporation-driven capillary action and eventually precipitated on the ground surface.