Probabilistic modeling of radionuclide release at the waste package subsystem boundary of a repository in basalt
Estimation of potential radionuclide releases from the waste package subsystem of a nuclear waste repository is required for two reasons: (1) to judge whether the engineered barrier system complies with the performance regulations prescribed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and (2) to provide radionuclide source terms needed to predict the isolation performance of the natural barriers (i.e., geologic medium) which must be compared with the US Environmental Protection Agency safety standard. In this paper, a probabilistic approach developed at the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP), for the estimation of radionuclide releases from a proposed nuclear waste repository in basalt is presented. The central idea of this approach is that uncertainties in both the radionuclide transport parameters and the random nature of container failures impact the estimation of release rates. Details of the method are provided which account for both sources of uncertainty. Sample applications are presented that are based on preliminary data. Briefly, the BWIP methodology consists of (1) a container corrosion model, (2) a model describing the random sequence of container failures in time, (3) a stochastic transport model to obtain the probability distribution of releases from a single container failing at a specified time, and (4) a model to integrate the releases from the randomly failing containers in the repository.
- Research Organization:
- Rockwell International Corp., Richland, WA (USA). Rockwell Hanford Operations
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-77RL01030
- OSTI ID:
- 5956876
- Report Number(s):
- RHO-BW-SA-506-P; ON: DE86010454
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BASALT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
CONTAINERS
CORROSION
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
FAILURES
PACKAGING
PERFORMANCE
SOURCE TERMS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
IGNEOUS ROCKS
MASS TRANSFER
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ROCKS
VOLCANIC ROCKS
053000* - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects
054000 - Nuclear Fuels- Health & Safety
052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage