Testing Long-Term Predictions from Hydro-Geochemical Models

ABSTRACTThermally induced flow of liquid water and water vapor at the potential repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, will extend hundreds of meters away from the repository edge. The resultant transfer of heat and mass will sufficiently perturb the ambient conditions such that a variety of mineralogical and chemical reactions will occur that may modify hydrological properties. The consequences of this “coupling” of geochemical and hydrological processes will vary through time, and will occur to different degrees in four regimes (T < Tboiling; T = Tboiling; T > T boiling; cooling) that will develop within the repository block. The dominant processes in the regimes differ, and reflect the local balance between: 1) kinetics and equilibrium; 2) dissolution and precipitation; 3) evaporation and boiling; and 4) fluid flow in matrix and fractures. Simulations were conducted of the evolution of these regimes, using laboratory derived kinetics and thermodynamic data, and site specific mineralogical and hydrological properties. These simulations identify regions where chemical and mineralogical equilibrium is likely to be achieved, and where net changes in hydrological properties will be concentrated. Tests of the results of these simulations have been initiated using field data from the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. A preliminary series of calculations suggest that relative changes in porosity of as much as ± 20% to 30% may be possible for rocks with an initial porosity of 10%.