Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations Project interim acceptance specifications for Defense Waste Processing Facility and West Valley Demonstration Project waste forms and canisterized waste

The waste acceptance specifications presented in this document represent the first stage of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations Project effort to establish specifications for the acceptance of waste forms for disposal at a nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain tuff. The only waste forms that will be dealt with in this document are the reprocessed waste forms resulting from solidification of the Savannah River Plant defense high level waste and the West Valley high level wastes. Specifications for acceptance of spent fuel will be covered in a separate document

Properties of SYNROC C nuclear-waste form: a state-of-the-art review

SYNROC C is a titanate ceramic waste form designed to contain the waste generated by the reprocessing of commercial nuclear reactor fuel. The properties of SYNROC C are described with particular emphasis on the distribution of chemical elements in SYNROC, the fabrication of good quality specimens, and the chemical durability of SYNROC. Data obtained from testing of natural mineral analogues of SYNROC minerals are briefly discussed. The information available on radiation effects in SYNROC in relation to structural alteration and changes in chemical durability are summarized. 26 references, 2 figures, 18 tables

Post Emplacement Environment of Waste Packages

Experiments have been conducted as part of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations Project to determine the changes in water chemistry due to reaction of the Topopah Spring tuff with natural groundwater at temperatures up to 150{sup 0}C. The reaction extent has been investigated as a function of rock-to-water ratio, temperature, reaction time, physical state of the samples, and geographic location of the samples within the tuff unit. Results of these experiments will be used to provide information on the water chemistry to be expected if a high-level waste repository were to be constructed in the Topopah Spring tuff. 6 references, 5 figures, 1 table

Spent fuel cladding corrosion under tuff repository conditions: initial observations

The Westinghouse Hanford Company program is investigating corrosion and stress corrosion cracking of Zircaloy-2 and 4 in two model tuff repository environments using an experimental approach in which the repository environment is reproduced as accurately as possible, including temperature, radiation field, water chemistry and materials associations. Post-experimental sample evaluation utilizes or will utilize sophisticated SEM/STEM, Auger surface analysis/ion milling, and trace element release to detect, locate and measure the effects of corrosion. The experiments themselves are being conducted using actual spent fuel and repository materials at repository conditions. The short experimental time (i.e., one year) is being compensated for by sensitive measuring techniques. Characterization of any corrosion found will be used to understand the mechanisms involved for extrapolation purposes. The initial evaluation of samples from two, six, and 12-month electrochemical corrosion experiments indicated no Zircaloy-4 corrosion at a detection sensitivity of 1 to 2 {mu}m of corrosion per year. To improve the sensitivity of the experiment, baseline conditions (e.g., beginning with a polished metal surface) will need to be established that are expected to make it possible to resolve corrosion on the scale of hundreds of angstroms. Examples are the development of such measurements as film depth determination via Auger surface analysis/ion milling and Zr and {sup 14}C released into the aqueous corrosion environment. Characterization of any corrosion found will be used to understand the mechanisms involved. This will allow extrapolation of results to predict cladding lifetime under repository conditions. 3 refs

Post emplacement environment of waste packages

Experiments have been conducted as part of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations Project to determine the changes in water chemistry due to reaction of the Topopah Spring tuff with natural groundwater at temperatures up to 150{sup 0}C. The reaction extent has been investigated as a function of rock-to-water ratio, temperature, reaction time, physical state of the samples, and geographic location of the samples within the tuff unit. Results of these experiments will be used to provide information on the water chemistry to be expected if a high-level waste repository were to be constructed in the Topopah Spring tuff. 6 references, 5 figures, 1 table

Spent fuel characteristics & disposal considerations

The fuel used in commercial nuclear power reactors is uranium, generally in the form of an oxide. The gas-cooled reactors developed in England use metallic uranium enclosed in a thin layer of Magnox. Since this fuel must be processed into a more stable form before disposal, we will not consider the characteristics of the Magnox spent fuel. The vast majority of the remaining power reactors in the world use uranium dioxide pellets in Zircaloy cladding as the fuel material. Reactors that are fueled with uranium dioxide generally use water as the moderator. If ordinary water is used, the reactors are called Light Water Reactors (LWR), while if water enriched in the deuterium isotope of hydrogen is used, the reactors are called Heavy Water reactors. The LWRs can be either pressurized reactors (PWR) or boiling water reactors (BWR). Both of these reactor types use uranium that has been enriched in the 235 isotope to about 3.5 to 4% total abundance. There may be minor differences in the details of the spent fuel characteristics for PWRs and BWRs, but for simplicity we will not consider these second-order effects. The Canadian designed reactor (CANDU) that is moderated by heavy water uses natural uranium without enrichment of the 235 isotope as the fuel. These reactors run at higher linear power density than LWRs and produce spent fuel with lower total burn-up than LWRs. Where these difference are important with respect to spent fuel management, we will discuss them. Otherwise, we will concentrate on spent fuel from LWRs

NNWSI waste form testing program

A waste form testing program has been developed to ensure that the release rate of radionuclides from the engineered barrier system will meet NRC and EPA regulatory requirements. Waste form performance testing will be done under unsaturated, low water availability conditions which represent the expected repository conditions. Testing will also be done under conditions of total immersion of the waste form in repository-type water to cover the possibility that localized portions of the repository might contain standing water. Testing of reprocesses waste forms for CHLW and DHLW will use reaction vessels fabricated from Topopah Spring tuff. Chemical elements which are expected to show the highest release rates in the mildly oxidizing environment of the Topopah Spring tuff horizon at Yucca Mountain are Np and Tc. To determine the effect of residual canister material and of corrosion products from the canister/overpack, waste form testing will be done in the presence of these materials. The release rate of all radionuclides which are subject to NRC and EPA regulations will be measured, and the interactive effects of the released radionuclide and the rock reaction vessels will be determined. The testing program for spent fuel will determine the release rate from bare spent fuel pellets and from Zircaloy clad spent fuel where the cladding contains minor defects. A metal testing program for Zircaloy will establish the expected lifetime of the cladding material. Estimation of the state of cladding for fuel presently in reactor pool storage will provide baseline data for Zircaloy containment credit. 9 references, 4 figures

Reaction of the Topopah Spring Tuff with J-13 water at 120{sup 0}C

This report describes a series of hydrothermal experiments using crushed tuff from the Topopah Spring Member and natural ground water from well J-13. The purpose of these experiments is to define the changes in water chemistry that would result from temperature changes caused by emplacing high-level nuclear waste in a repository in the Topopah Spring tuff. Experiments were conducted at 120{sup 0}C in Teflon-lined reaction vessels at four separate rock-to-water ratios and for reaction times up to 72 days. The composition of evaporite deposits contained in the pores of the surface-outcrop rock material used in these experiments is determined from solution compositions resulting from treatment of the rock before the start of the experiments. Results from the experiments at 120{sup 0}C are compared with previous experimental results from hydrothermal reaction of the Topopah Spring tuff with J-13 water at 90 and 150{sup 0}C. The main conclusion that can be drawn from this work is that changes in the water chemistry due to heating of the rock-water system can be expected to be very minor. There is no significant source of anions (F{sup -}, Cl{sup -}, NO{sub 3}{sup -}, or SO{sub 4}{sup 2-}) in the rock; solution anion compositions after reaction of pretreated rock with J-13 water differ very little from the starting compositions. The major changes in cations are an increase in silica to approximately the level of cristobalite solubility, supersaturation of aluminum followed by slow precipitation, and fairly rapid precipitation of calcium and magnesium due to the retrograde solubility of calcite. These results are in good agreement with those previously reported for reaction of the tuff with J-13 water at 90 and 150{sup 0}C. 7 references, 7 figures, 28 tables

Performance testing of waste forms in a tuff environment

This paper describes experimental work conducted to establish the chemical composition of water which will have reacted with Topopah Spring Member tuff prior to contact with waste packages. The experimental program to determine the behavior of spent fuel and borosilicate glass in the presence of this water is then described. Preliminary results of experiments using spent fuel segments with defects in the Zircaloy cladding are presented. Some results from parametric testing of a borosilicate glass with tuff and 304L stainless steel are also discussed. Experiments conducted using Topopah Spring tuff and J-13 well water have been conducted to provide an estimate of the post-emplacement environment for waste packages in a repository at Yucca Mountain. The results show that emplacement of waste packages should cause only small changes in the water chemistry and rock mineralogy. The changes in environment should not have any detrimental effects on the performance of metal barriers or waste forms. The NNWSI waste form testing program has provided preliminary results related to the release rate of radionuclides from the waste package. Those results indicate that release rates from both spent fuel and borosilicate glass should be below 1 part in 10{sup 5} per year. Future testing will be directed toward making release rate testing more closely relevant to site specific conditions. 17 references, 7 figures