Use of groundwater lifetime expectancy for the performance assessment of a deep geologic waste repository: 1. Theory, illustrations, and implications

Long-term solutions for the disposal of toxic wastes usually involve isolation of the wastes in a deep subsurface geologic environment. In the case of spent nuclear fuel, if radionuclide leakage occurs from the engineered barrier, the geological medium represents the ultimate barrier that is relied upon to ensure safety. Consequently, an evaluation of radionuclide travel times from a repository to the biosphere is critically important in a performance assessment analysis. In this study, we develop a travel time framework based on the concept of groundwater lifetime expectancy as a safety indicator. Lifetime expectancy characterizes the time that radionuclides will spend in the subsurface after their release from the repository and prior to discharging into the biosphere. The probability density function of lifetime expectancy is computed throughout the host rock by solving the backward-in-time solute transport adjoint equation subject to a properly posed set of boundary conditions. It can then be used to define optimal repository locations. The risk associated with selected sites can be evaluated by simulating an appropriate contaminant release history. The utility of the method is illustrated by means of analytical and numerical examples, which focus on the effect of fracture networks on the uncertainty of evaluated lifetime expectancy.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures; Water Resources Research, Vol. 44, 200

Use of groundwater lifetime expectancy for the performance assessment of a deep geologic radioactive waste repository:2. Application to a Canadian Shield environment

Cornaton et al. [2007] introduced the concept of lifetime expectancy as a performance measure of the safety of subsurface repositories, based upon the travel time for contaminants released at a certain point in the subsurface to reach the biosphere or compliance area. The methodologies are applied to a hypothetical but realistic Canadian Shield crystalline rock environment, which is considered to be one of the most geologically stable areas on Earth. In an approximately 10\times10\times1.5 km3 hypothetical study area, up to 1000 major and intermediate fracture zones are generated from surface lineament analyses and subsurface surveys. In the study area, mean and probability density of lifetime expectancy are analyzed with realistic geologic and hydrologic shield settings in order to demonstrate the applicability of the theory and the numerical model for optimally locating a deep subsurface repository for the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel. The results demonstrate that, in general, groundwater lifetime expectancy increases with depth and it is greatest inside major matrix blocks. Various sources and aspects of uncertainty are considered, specifically geometric and hydraulic parameters of permeable fracture zones. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the existence and location of permeable fracture zones and the relationship between fracture zone permeability and depth from ground surface are the most significant factors for lifetime expectancy distribution in such a crystalline rock environment. As a consequence, it is successfully demonstrated that the concept of lifetime expectancy can be applied to siting and performance assessment studies for deep geologic repositories in crystalline fractured rock settings.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures; Water Resources Research, Vol. 44, 200

Hybrid 1-D dielectric microcavity: Fabrication and spectroscopic assessment of glass-based sub-wavelength structures

Two different 1-D multilayer dielectric microcavities are presented, one activated by Er3+ ions fabricated by rf-sputtering and other one containing [email protected] quantum dots obtained by a hybrid radio frequency-sputtering/solution deposition process. The rare-earth activated cavity is constituted by an Er3+ -doped SiO2 active layer inserted between two Bragg reflectors consisting of 10 pairs of SiO2/TiO2 layers. Starting from the deposition procedure used for this cavity a fabrication protocol was defined with the aim to combine the high reproducibility allowed by the sputtering deposition for the fabrication of multilayers structures with the ability of fabricate films activated with highly luminescent quantum dots dispersed in polymeric matrix. In this case the cavity was constituted by poly-laurylmethacrylate host matrix containing [email protected] quantum dots inserted between two Bragg reflectors consisting of 10 pairs of SiO2/TiO2 layers fabricated by rf-sputtering on SiO2 substrate. The thicknesses of the films of the Bragg reflectors were tailored in order to reflect the visible radiation at around 650 nm. Transmittance spectra were employed to assess the optical features of the single Bragg gratings and whole samples. Luminescence measurements put in evidence that emissions strongly influenced by the presence of the cavities for both the samples