Publications

Evaluation of Engineered Barrier Systems FY20 Report

Matteo, Edward N.; Dewers, Thomas D.; Gomez, Steven P.; Hadgu, Teklu H.; Zheng, L.Z.; Lammers, L.L.; Fox, P.F.; Chang, C.C.; Xu, H.X.; Borglin, S.B.; Whittaker, M.W.; Chou, C.C.; Tournassat, N.T.; Subramanian, S.S.; Wu, Y.W.; Nico, P.N.; Gilbert, B.G.; Kneafsey, T.K.; Caporuscio, F.A.; Sauer, K.B.; Rock, M.J.; Kalintsev, A.K.; Migdissov, A.M.; Alcorn, C.A.; Buck, E.C.; Yu, X-Y Y.; Yao, J.Y.; Son, J.S.; Reichers, S.L.; Klein-BenDavid, O.K.; Bar-nes, G.B.; Meeusen, J.C.; Gruber, C.G.; Steen, M S.; Brown, K.G.; Delapp, R.D.; Taylor, A.J.; Ayers, J.A.; Kosson, D.S.

This report describes research and development (R&D) activities conducted during fiscal year 2020 (FY20) specifically related to the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) R&D Work Package in the Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Campaign supported by the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE). The R&D activities focus on understanding EBS component evolution and interactions within the EBS, as well as interactions between the host media and the EBS. A primary goal is to advance the development of process models that can be implemented directly within the Generic Disposal System Analysis (GDSA) platform or that can contribute to the safety case in some manner such as building confidence, providing further insight into the processes being modeled, establishing better constraints on barrier performance, etc. The FY20 EBS activities involved not only modeling and analysis work, but experimental work as well. Despite delays to some planned activities due to COVID-19 precautions, progress was made during FY20 in multiple research areas and documented in this report as follows: (1) EBS Task Force: Task 9/FEBEX Modeling Final Report: Thermo-Hydrological Modeling with PFLOTRAN, (2) preliminary sensitivity analysis for the FEBEX in-situ heater test, (3) cement-carbonate rock interaction under saturated conditions: from laboratory to modeling, (4) hydrothermal experiments, (5) progress on investigating the high temperature behavior of the uranyl-carbonate complexes, (6) in-situ and electrochemical work for model validation, (7) investigation of the impact of high temperature on EBS bentonite with THMC modeling, (8) sorption and diffusion experiments on bentonite, (9) chemical controls on montmorillonite structure and swelling pressure, (10) microscopic origins of coupled transport processes in bentonite, (11) understanding the THMC evolution of bentonite in FEBEX-DP—coupled THMC modeling, (12) modeling in support of HotBENT, an experiment studying the effects of high temperatures on clay buffers/near-field, and (13) high temperature heating and hydration column test on bentonite.