47 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Evaluation of the post-emplacement environment of high level radioactive waste packages at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Evaluation of the post-emplacement environment around high level radioactive waste containers is required by federal regulations. The information derived from this evaluation will be used to determine the service performance of the waste containers, the chemical and hydrological conditions that may influence radionuclide release and transport if containers are breached, and retrievability of the waste containers prior to closure of the repository. Laboratory studies, numerical simulations, and field experiments and tests are used to provide data necessary for this evaluation. Results obtained to date demonstrate that the post-emplacement environment in the welded tuff at Yucca Mountain, Nevada maintains relatively benign chemical features (i.e., near neutral pH, low concentrations of dissolved species) for most scenarios. The hydrological environment appears to be one of low flow volume and rates for the expected condition of an unsaturated medium. Emplacement borehole stability will be a function of fracture density and orientation, which may be influenced by microcrack development. Field studies and numerical simulations are in progress that will extend the results of laboratory studies to long time periods. The extent to which chemical, hydrological and mechanical processes can be adequately coupled through numerical simulations remains a matter of concern. 18 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab
Recommended from our members
Review of existing reactive transport software
Simulations of thermal and hydrological evolution following the potential emplacement of a subterranean nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NV provide data that suggest the inevitability of dependent, simultaneous chemical evolution in this system. These chemical changes will modify significantly both the magnitude and structure of local porosity and permeability; hence, they will have a dynamic feedback effect on the evolving thermal and hydrological regime. Yet, despite this intimate interdependence of transport and chemical processes, a rigorous quantitative analysis of the post- emplacement environment that incorporates this critical feedback mechanism has not been completed to date. As an initial step in this direction, the present document outlines the fundamental chemical and transport processes that must be accounted for in such an analysis, and reviews the inventory of existing software that encodes these processed in explicitly coupled form. A companion report describes the prioritization of specific capabilities that are needed for modeling post-emplacement reactive transport at Yucca Mountain
Recommended from our members
Testing geochemical modeling codes using New Zealand hydrothermal systems
Hydrothermal systems in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand are being used as field-based modeling exercises for the EQ3/6 geochemical modeling code package. Comparisons of the observed state and evolution of selected portions of the hydrothermal systems with predictions of fluid-solid equilibria made using geochemical modeling codes will: (1) ensure that we are providing adequately for all significant processes occurring in natural systems; (2) determine the adequacy of the mathematical descriptions of the processes; (3) check the adequacy and completeness of thermodynamic data as a function of temperature for solids, aqueous species and gases; and (4) determine the sensitivity of model results to the manner in which the problem is conceptualized by the user and then translated into constraints in the code input. Preliminary predictions of mineral assemblages in equilibrium with fluids sampled from wells in the Wairakei geothermal field suggest that affinity-temperature diagrams must be used in conjunction with EQ6 to minimize the effect of uncertainties in thermodynamic and kinetic data on code predictions. The kinetics of silica precipitation in EQ6 will be tested using field data from silica-lined drain channels carrying hot water away from the Wairakei borefield
Recommended from our members
Field-based tests of geochemical modeling codes: New Zealand hydrothermal systems
Hydrothermal systems in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, North Island, New Zealand are being used as field-based modeling exercises for the EQ3/6 geochemical modeling code package. Comparisons of the observed state and evolution of the hydrothermal systems with predictions of fluid-solid equilibria made using geochemical modeling codes will determine how the codes can be used to predict the chemical and mineralogical response of the environment to nuclear waste emplacement. Field-based exercises allow us to test the models on time scales unattainable in the laboratory. Preliminary predictions of mineral assemblages in equilibrium with fluids sampled from wells in the Wairakei and Kawerau geothermal field suggest that affinity-temperature diagrams must be used in conjunction with EQ6 to minimize the effect of uncertainties in thermodynamic and kinetic data on code predictions
Links Between Hydrothermal Environments, Pyrophosphate, Na+, and Early Evolution
The discovery that photosynthetic bacterial membrane-bound inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPase) catalyzed light-induced phosphorylation of orthophosphate (Pi) to pyrophosphate (PPi) and the capability of PPi to drive energy requiring dark reactions supported PPi as a possible early alternative to ATP. Like the proton-pumping ATPase, the corresponding membrane-bound PPase also is a H+-pump, and like the Na+-pumping ATPase, it can be a Na+-pump, both in archaeal and bacterial membranes. We suggest that PPi and Na+ transport preceded ATP and H+ transport in association with geochemistry of the Earth at the time of the origin and early evolution of life. Life may have started in connection with early plate tectonic processes coupled to alkaline hydrothermal activity. A hydrothermal environment in which Na+ is abundant exists in sediment-starved subduction zones, like the Mariana forearc in the W Pacific Ocean. It is considered to mimic the Archean Earth. The forearc pore fluids have a pH up to 12.6, a Na+-concentration of 0.7 mol/kg seawater. PPi could have been formed during early subduction of oceanic lithosphere by dehydration of protonated orthophosphates. A key to PPi formation in these geological environments is a low local activity of water
Recommended from our members
Validation of hydrogeochemical codes using the New Zealand geothermal system
Evaluation of the performance of a nuclear waste repository requires that numerous parameters be evaluated over a broad range of conditions using codes. The capabilities of these codes must be demonstrated using complex natural systems in which the processes of interest have already occurred or are occurring. We have initiated such a test of geochemical and hydrological simulation codes, using the geothermal areas of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. Areas that have been evolving for a few tens to a few tens of thousands of years are of particular interest. This effort will help determine the extent to which simplified modeling approaches can be used in performance assessment calculations. To guide the selection of natural systems, we are attempting to map potential repository regions dominated by equilibrium processes and those dominated by kinetically controlled processes. To do so, fluid velocities and temperatures were computed using the V-TOUGH code assuming an equivalent continuum, dual porosity model. These results were then used to compare advective fluid flow rate with silica dissolution/precipitation rates, using Damkoehler numbers. Only the first 5000 years of repository operation were considered. The results identify a migrating envelope of kinetically dominated activity several meters wide in the vicinity of waste packages that contrasts with other parts of the repository. The Lake Rotokawa region, New Zealand, has been used in our first test effort, since it contains environments that are examples of kinetic and equilibrium processes. The results of tests involving equilibrium processes show excellent correspondence between simulated and observed mineral alteration sequences, although discrepancies in some mineral parageneses demonstrate that operator decisions in conducting simulations must be considered an integral part of validation efforts
Recommended from our members
Second quarter results of chemical measurements in the single heater test (milestone SP9240M4)
In the first quarter report, comparison was made between measured water compositions obtained from Hole 16, interval 4 (16-4), and preliminary simulations of that water chemistry. This report describes additional data collected since that sampling, as well as the results of refined simulations that provide a better approximation of the reaction path followed by the water. Also, during this period waters were extracted from pads placed on SEAMIST liners in boreholes specifically for chemical sampling. Several pads exhibited evidence of having collected moisture, so they were removed and the water analyzed. However, for reasons discussed below, analytical problems were encountered. As a result, refined sampling techniques will be used in the future Drift Scale Test, when employing sample pads on the liners
Recommended from our members
Predicting mineral alteration at the potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NV with reactive transport modeling
We present the results of a reactive transport modeling study that examines the sensitivity of mineral evolution to temperature, condensate properties and water flow conditions anticipated to occur in the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository site. We have investigated a key aspect of the thermal-hydrological repository system, the interaction of condensate water flowing through fractures at the site. Future simulations will include mineral changes at the boiling front, a process not considered in this study. Our simulations show that the principal mineral changes that occur are dissolution of the initial phases (mainly calcite, but also feldspars and clay) and formation of zeolites and hydrated aluminous phases. Major differences in mineral alteration occur over very short distances. Fracture mineral alteration is clearly coupled with the thermal hydrological environment. Fracture porosity is enhanced in those areas where condensate forms, an upper, lower temperature condensate zone and a lower, high temperature condensate zone. The locations where mineral precipitation occur and porosity decreases depend on the integrated residence time of the solution on the fracture surface. In general, mineral precipitation is expected to occur in the region -150 m above the water table. Whether the changes in porosity are significant enough to modify thermo-hydrological behavior remains to be evaluated