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Direct Characterization of Transport Parameters in Near-Field and Engineered Backfill/Invert Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2012

J. L. Conca ,
B. A. Robinson ,
I. R. Triay  and
G. Y. Bussod
J. L. Conca
Affiliation:
UFA Ventures, Inc., 2000 Logston Blvd, Richland WA 99352http://ufa.owt.com
B. A. Robinson
Affiliation:
Box 1663, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
I. R. Triay
Affiliation:
Box 1663, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
G. Y. Bussod
Affiliation:
Box 1663, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
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Abstract

Performance assessment of a potential repository at Yucca Mountain includes flow and transport modeling of the unsaturated zone as the critical predictive component, and involves a series of model calculations that provide predictions of the migration of important radionuclides in the inventory to the water table. The modeling requires the relevant properties of both the natural environment and the engineered systems. The Unsaturated Flow Apparatus, UFA, was used to directly measure the unsaturated and saturated transport properties of whole rock tuff cores and candidate barrier materials to provide real input parameters to the models. These properties included hydraulic conductivity, matric potential, air permeability, and diffusion coefficient, all of which are strong functions of the volumetric water content. Results show that for all recharges above 0.1 mm/yr, fractures will be partially saturated and conducting at that recharge rate. Whenever the thermal conditions relax enough to allow rewetting of the host rock, there will be dripping from the drift ceiling. Unsaturated transport of colloids through fractured cores of Topopah Spring and Prow Pass tuffs was also investigated and found to depend primarily upon colloid charge, and not size, for the rock cores investigated.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 465: Symposium II – Scienfific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XX , 1996 , 951
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

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