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Evaporative Evolution of Brines from Synthetic Topopah Spring Tuff Pore Water, Yucca Mountain, NV

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

Maureen Alai  and
Susan Carroll
Maureen Alai
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550, U.S.A.
Susan Carroll
Affiliation:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550, U.S.A.
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Abstract

We are investigating the evaporation of pore water representative of the designated high-level-nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NV to predict the range of brine compositions that may contact waste containers. These brines could form potentially corrosive thin films on the containers and impact their long-term integrity. Here we report the geochemistry of a relatively complex synthetic Topopah Spring Tuff pore water that was progressively evaporated in a series of experiments. The experiments were conducted in a vented vessel in which HEPA filtered air flowed over the 95°C solution. Samples of the evaporating solution and the condensed vapor were taken and analyzed to determine the evolving water chemistry and gas volatility. The final solid was analyzed by X-ray diffraction.

The synthetic Topopah Spring Tuff water evolved towards a complex brine that contained about 45 mol % Cl, 7 mol% NO3, 43 mol% Na, 4 mol % K, and less than 1 mol % each of SO4, Ca, Mg, HCO3 and Si. Trends in the solution data and identification of CaSO4 solids suggest that fluorite, carbonate, sulfate, and Mg-silicate precipitation minimize the corrosion potential of “sulfate type pore water” by removing F, Ca, and Mg during the early stages of evaporation.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 757: Symposium II – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXVI , 2002 , II11.6
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

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References

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