Publications

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This report describes specific GDSA activities in fiscal year 2015 (FY2015) toward the development of the enhanced disposal system modeling and analysis capability for geologic disposal of nuclear waste. The GDSA framework employs the PFLOTRAN thermal-hydrologic-chemical multi-physics code (Hammond et al., 2011) and the Dakota uncertainty sampling and propagation code (Adams et al., 2013). Each code is designed for massively-parallel processing in a high-performance computing (HPC) environment. Multi-physics representations in PFLOTRAN are used to simulate various coupled processes including heat flow, fluid flow, waste dissolution, radionuclide release, radionuclide decay and ingrowth, precipitation and dissolution of secondary phases, and radionuclide transport through the engineered barriers and natural geologic barriers to a well location in an overlying or underlying aquifer. Dakota is used to generate sets of representative realizations and to analyze parameter sensitivity.

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The calculation of radionuclide concentrations in a receptor well of a generic reference aquifer is highly dependent on the mixing that occurs in the aquifer and well. This study tests two simple analytical approaches for estimating well concentrations: a Generic Aquifer Transport and Capture (GATC) approach and an adapted IAEA ERB1B model. These approaches are tested against a 3-D generic repository model simulated numerically using PFLOTRAN. Because the PFLOTRAN model in this study simulates a diffusive release to the aquifer and the ERB1B model is designed for advective releases, the ERB1B model had to be adapted to accept a diffusive release. The results show that for this PFLOTRAN simulation the GATC equations accurately predict the initial breakthrough and peak concentration at the well but somewhat overestimate concentrations between these points. The adapted ERB1B model only predicts the peak accurately. Similar studies with broader aquifer domains and different types of advective and diffusive releases to the aquifer are needed to fully test the ranges of these analytical approaches.

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directly, rather than through simplified abstractions. It also a llows for complex representations of the source term, e.g., the explicit representation of many individual waste packages (i.e., meter - scale detail of an entire waste emplacement drift). This report fulfills the Generic Disposal System Analysis Work Packa ge Level 3 Milestone - Performance Assessment Modeling and Sensitivity Analyses of Generic Disposal System Concepts (M 3 FT - 1 4 SN08080 3 2 ).

An analysis of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) colloid model constraints and parameter values was performed. The focus of this work was primarily on intrinsic colloids, mineral fragment colloids, and humic substance colloids, with a lesser focus on microbial colloids. Comments by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concerning intrinsic Th(IV) colloids and Mg-Cl-OH mineral fragment colloids were addressed in detail, assumptions and data used to constrain colloid model calculations were evaluated, and inconsistencies between data and model parameter values were identified. This work resulted in a list of specific conclusions regarding model integrity, model conservatism, and opportunities for improvement related to each of the four colloid types included in the WIPP performance assessment.

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A scientific visit on Crystalline Rock Repository Development was held in the Czech Republic on September 24-27, 2012. The visit was hosted by the Czech Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA), co-hosted by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The purpose of the visit was to promote technical information exchange between participants from countries engaged in the investigation and exploration of crystalline rock for the eventual construction of nuclear waste repositories. The visit was designed especially for participants of countries that have recently commenced (or recommenced) national repository programmes in crystalline host rock formations. Discussion topics included repository programme development, site screening and selection, site characterization, disposal concepts in crystalline host rock, regulatory frameworks, and safety assessment methodology. Interest was surveyed in establishing a %E2%80%9Cclub,%E2%80%9D the mission of which would be to identify and address the various technical challenges that confront the disposal of radioactive waste in crystalline rock environments. The idea of a second scientific visit to be held one year later in another host country received popular support. The visit concluded with a trip to the countryside south of Prague where participants were treated to a tour of the laboratory and underground facilities of the Josef Regional Underground Research Centre.

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An in-package chemistry model is presented to calculate pH in the pore space of degradation products inside a breached waste package in the unsaturated environment of the Yucca Mountain repository. The pH is calculated as a function of liquid influx rate, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, solid-water volume ratio in the porous degradation products (provided by a coupled water balance model), and the relative rate of steel and waste form degradation. The EQ3/6 code is used to calculate pH at high liquid influx rates and zero liquid influx rates (vapor influx only). For mid-range liquid influx rates, a Damkohler ratio is defined and used to interpolate between the pH values calculated at the two extremes. This approach allows the in-package pH to be calculated over broad ranges of key parameters in a total system performance assessment.

This report evaluates the feasibility of disposing U.S. high-level radioactive waste in granite several hundred meters below the surface of the earth. The U.S. has many granite formations with positive attributes for permanent disposal. Similar crystalline formations have been extensively studied by international programs, two of which, in Sweden and Finland, are the host rocks of submitted or imminent repository license applications. This report is enabled by the advanced work of the international community to establish functional and operational requirements for disposal of a range of waste forms in granite media. In this report we develop scoping performance analyses, based on the applicable features, events, and processes (FEPs) identified by international investigators, to support generic conclusions regarding post-closure safety. Unlike the safety analyses for disposal in salt, shale/clay, or deep boreholes, the safety analysis for a mined granite repository depends largely on waste package preservation. In crystalline rock, waste packages are preserved by the high mechanical stability of the excavations, the diffusive barrier of the buffer, and favorable chemical conditions. The buffer is preserved by low groundwater fluxes, favorable chemical conditions, backfill, and the rigid confines of the host rock. An added advantage of a mined granite repository is that waste packages would be fairly easy to retrieve, should retrievability be an important objective. The results of the safety analyses performed in this study are consistent with the results of comprehensive safety assessments performed for sites in Sweden, Finland, and Canada. They indicate that a granite repository would satisfy established safety criteria and suggest that a small number of FEPs would largely control the release and transport of radionuclides. In the event the U.S. decides to pursue a potential repository in granite, a detailed evaluation of these FEPs would be needed to inform site selection and safety assessment.

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The partitioning experiment is commonly performed with little or no attention to reducing measurement variance. Batch test procedures such as those used to measure K{sub d} values (e.g., ASTM D 4646 and EPA402 -R-99-004A) do not explain how to evaluate measurement uncertainty nor how to minimize measurement variance. In fact, ASTM D 4646 prescribes a sorbent:water ratio that prevents variance minimization. Consequently, the variance of a set of partitioning measurements can be extreme and even absurd. Such data sets, which are commonplace, hamper probabilistic modeling efforts. An error-savvy design requires adjustment of the solution:sorbent ratio so that approximately half of the sorbate partitions to the sorbent. Results of Monte Carlo simulations indicate that this simple step can markedly improve the precision and statistical characterization of partitioning uncertainty.