Publications

The impact of natural convection on near-field TH processes in the fractured rock at Yucca Mountain

Birkholzer, J.T.; Halecky, N.; Webb, Stephen W.; Peterson, P.F.; Bodvarsson, G.S.

The heat output of the radioactive waste proposed to be emplaced at Yucca Mountain will strongly affect the thermal-hydrological (TH) conditions in and near the geologic repository for thousands of years. Recent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis has demonstrated that the emplacement tunnels (drifts) will act as important conduits for gas flows driven by natural convection. As a result, vapor generated from boiling/evaporation of formation water near elevated-temperature sections of the drifts may effectively be transported to cooler end sections (where no waste is emplaced), would condense there, and subsequently drain into underlying rock units. To study these processes, we have developed a new simulation method that couples existing tools for simulating TH conditions in the fractured formation with modules that approximate natural convection in heated emplacement drifts. The new method is applied to evaluate the future TH conditions at Yucca Mountain in a three-dimensional model domain comprising a representative emplacement drift and the surrounding fractured rock.