NNWSI Performance Assessment Considerations

1983 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. D. Tyler ◽  
R. R. Peters ◽  
N. K. Hayden ◽  
J. K. Johnstone ◽  
S. Sinnock
Keyword(s):  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Assessment Task ◽  
Waste Storage ◽  
A Site

ABSTRACTThe Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) project includes a Performance Assessment task to evaluate the containment and isolation potential for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. This task includes calculations of the rates and concentrations at which radionuclides might be released and transported from the repository and will predict their consequences if they enter the human environment. Among the major tasks required for these calculations will be the development of models for water flow and nuclide transport under unsaturated conditions and in fractured hard rock. The program must also quantify the uncertainties associated with the results of the calculations. The performance assessment will provide evaluations needed for making major decisions as the U. S. Department of Energy seeks a site for a repository. An evaluation will be part of the environmental assessments prepared to accompany the potential nomination of the site. If the Yucca mountain site is selected for characterization and development as a repository, the assessments will be required for an environmental impact statement, a safety analysis report, and other documents.This program has been divided into five tasks. Collectively they will provide the performance assessments needed for the NNWSI Project.

Demonstration of Safety for Geologic Disposal

1993 ◽  
Vol 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward C. Taylor ◽  
Lawrence D. Ramspott ◽  
William M. Sprecher
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Technological Advance ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Nuclear Waste Management ◽  
Geologic Repository ◽  
Geologic Disposal ◽  
High Level ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTThe U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing a nuclear waste management system that will accept high-level radioactive waste, transport it, store it, and ultimately emplace it in a deep geologic repository. The key activity now is determining whether Yucca Mountain, Nevada is suitable as a site for the repository. If so, the crucial technological advance will be the demonstration that disposal of nuclear waste will be safe for thousands of years after closure. This paper assesses the impact of regulatory developments, legal developments, and scientific developments on such a demonstration.

scholarly journals A Quantitative Assessment of Microbiological Contributions to Corrosion of Candidate Nuclear Waste Package Materials

1999 ◽  
Vol 556 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Lian ◽  
S. Martin ◽  
J. Horn ◽  
D. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Corrosion Rate ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion ◽  
304 Stainless Steel ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Waste Package

AbstractThe U.S. Department of Energy is contributing to the design of a potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. A system to predict the contribution of Yucca Mountain (YM) bacteria to overall corrosion rates of candidate waste package (WP) materials was designed and implemented. DC linear polarization resistance techniques were applied to candidate material coupons that had been inoculated with a mixture of YM-derived bacteria with potentially corrosive activities, or left sterile. Inoculated bacteria caused a 5- to 6-fold increase in corrosion rate of carbon steel C 1020 (to approximately 7-8μm/yr), and an almost 100-fold increase in corrosion rate of Alloy 400 (to approximately μm/yr) was observed due to microbiological activities. Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) rates on more resistant materials (CRMs: Alloy 625, Type 304 Stainless Steel, and Alloy C22) were on the order of hundredths of micrometers per year (μm/yr). Bulk chemical and surfacial endpoint analyses of spent media and coupon surfaces showed preferential dissolution of nickel from Alloy 400 coupons and depletion of chromium from CRMs after incubation with YM bacteria. Scanning electron microscopy also showed greater damage to the Alloy 400 surface than that indicated by electrochemical detection methods.

Nuclear Waste Storage at Yucca Mountain

Science ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 269 (5226) ◽  
pp. 906-907
Author(s):  
C. D. Bowman ◽  
F. Venneri
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Waste Storage

Permeability and Pore-Fluid Chemistry of the Topopah Spring Member of the Paintbrush Tuff, Nevada Test Site, in a Temperature Gradient – Application to Nuclear Waste Storage

1983 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Morrow ◽  
D. E. Moore ◽  
J. D. Byerlee
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Gradient ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Test Site ◽  
Pore Fluid ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Nevada Test Site ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Fluid Chemistry ◽  
Waste Storage ◽  
Pore Fluid Chemistry

ABSTRACTThe Topopah Spring Member of the Paintbrush Tuff from the Nevada Test Site is being investigated by the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations project (NNWSI) as a possible nuclear waste repository host rock. Changes with time of the permeability and fluid chemistry of the Topopah Spring Member have been measured in samples subjected to a temperature gradient. Maximum temperatures of the imposed gradients ranged from 90° to 250°C; minimum temperatures were 36° to 83°C. Confining and pore pressures simulated a depth of about 1.2 km, which is greater than the proposed repository depth, but chosen for comparison with previous studies at these pressures. Pore fluid used in the experiments was groundwater from the Nevada Test Site; the direction of pore-fluid flow was from the high- to the low-temperature side of the tuffs.Initial permeabilities of the tuff samples ranged from 3 to 65 μdarcys, the wide range in values resulting from differences in the void and fracture geometries of the samples. Heating the tuffs produced no change in permeability in tne lowest temperature experiment and only small changes at higher temperatures. The fluids discharged from the tuffs were dilute waters of nearneutral pH that differed only slightly from the original groundwater composition.Since proposed burial in the Topopah Spring Member would be in the unsaturated zone, the high initial permeabilities and the absence of permeability change with heating may be desirable, because downward-percolating waters would be able to drain into deeper formations and not collect at the repository level. in addition, any fluids that may come in contact with waste canisters wlll not have acquired any potentially corrosive characteristics through interaction with the tuff.

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