Field testing the effectiveness of pumping to remove sulfur hexafluoride traced drilling air from a prototype borehole near superior, Arizona
- Denver Federal Center, Lakewood, CO (United States)
The US Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior is conducting studies at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to provide hydrologic, hydrochemical, and geologic information to evaluate the suitability of Yucca Mountain for development as a high-level nuclear-waste repository. The USGS unsaturated-zone hydrochemistry study involves the collection of gas and water samples from the unsaturated zone for chemical and isotopic analyses. Results from these analyses will aid in the understanding of the movement of gas and water in the rock units at Yucca Mountain. A prototype borehole designated USW UZP5 was drilled by the US Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project Office (DOE, YMSCPO) in June 1990 in the Apache Leap Tuff of southcentral Arizona. The hole was dry drilled with air using sulfur hexafluoride (SF{sub 6}) as a tracer. This drilling method simulated that which will be used to drill boreholes for the collection of gas and water samples at Yucca Mountain. The purpose of tracing the drilling air is to quantify its removal by pumping, prior to sampling of in situ gases. The objectives of our work in Arizona were to: (1) Determine the amount of time and the pumping rates required to remove the SF{sub 6}-enriched drilling air without inducing additional atmospheric contamination; (2) collect core samples for uniaxial compression to determine the amount of SF{sub 6} gas that penetrated the core during drilling; (3) test the effectiveness of the SF{sub 6} injection and sampling system; (4) test the installation and effectiveness of the prototype packer system; and (5) test the effectiveness of several core sealing methods. 1 fig., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Regulatory Applications; Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (United States). Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses; Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ (United States). Dept. of Hydrology and Water Resources
- OSTI ID:
- 139512
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CP-0040; CONF-9101106-; ON: TI93016989; TRN: 94:007176
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5. flow and transport through unsaturated fractured rock related to high-level radioactive waste disposal, Tucson, AZ (United States), 7-10 Jan 1991; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1993; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of workshop 5: Flow and transport through unsaturated fractured rock -- related to high-level radioactive waste disposal; Evans, D.D. [ed.] [Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ (United States). Dept. of Hydrology and Water Resources]; Nicholson, T.J. [ed.] [Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Regulatory Applications]; PB: 238 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
AIR FLOW
FIELD TESTS
ROCKS
TESTING
TRANSPORT
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
BOREHOLES
SAMPLING
GASES
SULFUR FLUORIDES
HYDROLOGY
FLUID FLOW
Yucca Mountain Project