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Release and Transport of Gaseous C-14 from a Nuclear Waste Repository in an Unsaturated Medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

W.B. Light ,
E.D. Zwahlen ,
T.H. Pigford ,
P.L. ChambrÉ  and
W.W.-L. Lee
W.B. Light
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
E.D. Zwahlen
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
T.H. Pigford
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
P.L. ChambrÉ
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
W.W.-L. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
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Abstract

The potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain is to be in partially saturated rock. Released radioactive gases such as 14CO2 could have a direct pathway to the biosphere. We study the release of 14C released as 14CO2 from partly failed nuclear waste containers by analyzing the flow of gas into and out of a container. We analyze the transport of released 14CO2 in an unsaturated, fractured, porous medium with gas-phase advection and dispersion. We calculate the inhalation dose to a maximally exposed individual above ground, based on some conservative assumptions about release from containers. For the assumed parameter values, a simple atmospheric diffusion model gives very small doses when compared to background radiation doses.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 212: Symposium P – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XIV , 1990 , 863
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1991

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References

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