scholarly journals Multiphysics processes in partially saturated fractured rock: Experiments and models from Yucca Mountain

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonny Rutqvist ◽  
Chin-Fu Tsang
Keyword(s):  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Partially Saturated

Migration of Solutes in Unsaturated, Fractured Rock at Yucca Mountain: Measurements, Mechanisms, and Models

1995 ◽  
Vol 412 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Wolfsberg ◽  
B. A. Robinson ◽  
J. T. Fabryka-Martin
Keyword(s):  
Solute Transport ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Transport Studies ◽  
And Performance ◽  
High Level ◽  
A Site

AbstractCharacterization and performance assessment (PA) studies for the potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain require an understanding of migration mechanisms and pathways of radioactive solutes. Measurements of 36C1 in samples extracted from boreholes at the site are being used in conjunction with recent infiltration estimates to calibrate a site-scale flow and solute transport model. This exercise using the flow and solute transport model, FEHM, involves testing different model formulations and two different hypotheses to explain the occurrence of elevated 36Cl in the Calico Hills unit (CHn) which indicates younger water than in the overlying Topopah Spring unit (TSw). One hypothesis suggests fast vertical transport from the surface via fractures in the TSw to the CHn. An alternative hypothesis is that the elevated 36C1 concentrations reflect rapid horizontal flow in the CHn or at the interface between the CHn and the TSw with the source being vertical percolation under spatially isolated regions of high infiltration or at outcrops of those units. Arguments in favor of and against the hypotheses are described in conjunction with the site-scale transport studies.

Simulation of Radionuclide Transport through Unsaturated, Fractured Rock: Application to Yucca Mountain, Nevada

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. vzj2011.0142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Robinson ◽  
Shaoping Chu ◽  
Zhiming Lu
Keyword(s):  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Radionuclide Transport

scholarly journals Evaluating the Moisture Conditions in the Fractured Rock at Yucca Mountain: The Impact of Natural Convection Processes in Heated Emplacement Drifts

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 1172-1193 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Birkholzer ◽  
S. W. Webb ◽  
N. Halecky ◽  
P. F. Peterson ◽  
G. S. Bodvarsson
Keyword(s):  
Natural Convection ◽  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Transport of Gaseous 14C in a Partially Saturated, Fractured, Porous Medium

1989 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. B. Light ◽  
P. L. Chambré ◽  
W. W.-L. Lee ◽  
T. H. Pigford
Keyword(s):  
Porous Medium ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Release Rates ◽  
Partially Saturated ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Waste Repository ◽  
Porous Medium Model

ABSTRACTWe predict the transport of 14C from the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain using a porous medium model. Use of this model is justified if the Peclet number, which indicates equilibrium between gas in fractures and liquid in rock pores, is much less than unity. For the assumed release rates, maximum predicted concentrations of 14CO2 in rock near the ground surface are comparable to the USNRC limit for unrestricted areas. Furthermore, dilution near the ground surface as the 14CO2 enters the atmosphere will lower the concentrations by several orders of magnitude. Travel times from the repository to the surface are predicted to be hundreds to thousands of years. For a wide range of the parameters, the release rate from the source has negligible effect on the maximum concentrations at the ground surface.

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