Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of radionuclide contaminant mitigation, which comprisesapplying a carrier solution to a surface bearing a radionuclide contaminant, where the radionuclide contaminant is selected from the group consisting of 60Co, 137Cs, 192Ir, 90Sr and 241Am,where the carrier solution an anionic surfactant comprises water and a cation,where the cation is selected from the group consisting of K+, Na+, Mg+, Li+, NH4+, Ba2+, Ca2+, and Mg2+, andwhere the cation is in a concentration range from about 0.01 M to about 1.0 M, causing at least a portion of the radionuclide contaminant to enter the carrier solution to form a laden carrier solution comprising the radionuclide contaminant and carrier solution; andcontacting the laden solution with a sequestering agent,where the sequestering agent is a clay,where at least a portion of the radionuclide contaminant of the laden solution binds to at least a portion of the sequestering agent to form a laden sequestering agent and to generate a laden slurry comprising the laden sequestering agent and reformed carrier solution. 2. The method of claim 1 where the sequestering agent comprises a clay selected from the group consisting of montmorillonite, vermiculite, zeolite, illite, kaolinite, and bentonite. 3. The method of claim 1 where the surfactant is in a concentration range from about 10−6 M to about 5×10−2 M. 4. The method of claim 3 where the surfactant is sodium dodecyl sulfate or ammonium dodecyl sulfate. 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising separating the laden slurry to remove at least a portion of the laden sequestering agent from the reformed carrier solution. 6. The method of claim 5 further comprising separating by centrifugal filtration. 7. The method of claim 5 further comprising recycling the reformed carrier solution. 8. A method of radionuclide contaminant mitigation, which comprisesforming a brine comprising water and a cation,where the cation is selected from the group consisting of K+, Mg+, Na+, and NH4+,mixing a carrier solution an anionic surfactant comprising water and the brine,where the cation in the carrier solution is in a concentration in the range from about 0.01 M to about 1.0 M;applying the carrier solution to a surface bearing a radionuclide contaminant,where the radionuclide contaminant is selected from the group consisting of 60Co, 137Cs, 192Ir, 90Sr and 241Am, causing at least a portion of the radionuclide contaminant to enter the carrier solution to form laden carrier solution comprising the radionuclide contaminant and carrier solution; andcontacting the laden solution with a sequestering agent,where the sequestering agent is a clay,where at least a portion of the radionuclide contaminant of the laden solution binds to at least a portion of the sequestering agent to form a laden sequestering agent and to generate a laden slurry comprising the laden sequestering agent and reformed carrier solution. 9. The method of claim 8 where the sequestering agent comprises a clay selected from the group consisting of montmorillonite, vermiculite, zeolite, illite, kaolinite, and bentonite. 10. The method of claim 8 where the surfactant is in the concentration range from about 10−6 M to about 5×10−2 M. 11. The method of claim 8 where the surfactant is sodium dodecyl sulfate or ammonium dodecyl sulfate. 12. The method of claim 8 further comprising separating the laden slurry to remove at least a portion of the laden sequestering agent from the reformed carrier solution. 13. The method of claim 12 further comprising separating by centrifugal filtration. 14. The method of claim 12 further comprising recycling the laden slurry to remove at least a portion of the laden sequestering agent from the carrier solution.