Isotopes in hydrology and hydrogeology

The structure, status, and processes of the groundwater system, which can only be acquired through scientific research efforts, are critical aspects of water resource management. Isotope hydrology and hydrogeology is a genuinely interdisciplinary science. It developed from the application of methods evolved in physics (analytical techniques) to problems of Earth and the environmental sciences since around the 1950s. In this regard, starting from hydrogeochemical data, stable and radioactive isotope data provide essential tools in support of water resource management. The inventory of stable isotopes, which has significant implications for water resources management, has grown in recent years. Methodologies based on the use of isotopes in a full spectrum of hydrological problems encountered in water resource assessment, development, and management activities are already scientifically established and are an integral part of many water resource investigations and environmental studies. The driving force behind this Special Issue was the need to point the hydrological and water resource management societies in the direction of up-to-date research and best practices

17. Issues for Nuclear Power Plants Steam Generators

Open Access Boo

High-density support matrices: Key to the deep borehole disposal of spent nuclear fuel

Deep (4–5 km) boreholes are emerging as a safe, secure, environmentally sound and potentially cost-effective option for disposal of high-level radioactive wastes, including plutonium. One reason this option has not been widely accepted for spent fuel is because stacking the containers in a borehole could create load stresses threatening their integrity with potential for releasing highly mobile radionuclides like 129I before the borehole is filled and sealed. This problem can be overcome by using novel high-density support matrices deployed as fine metal shot along with the containers. Temperature distributions in and around the disposal are modelled to show how decay heat from the fuel can melt the shot within weeks of disposal to give a dense liquid in which the containers are almost weightless. Finally, within a few decades, this liquid will cool and solidify, entombing the waste containers in a base metal sarcophagus sealed into the host rock