Evaporation of J13 and UZ pore waters at Yucca Mountain
This work is motivated by a need to characterize the chemistry of aqueous films that might form at elevated temperatures on engineered components at the potential high-level, nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Such aqueous films might form through evaporation of water that seeps into the drifts, or by water vapor absorption by hydroscopic salts directly deposited on these components (possibly from previous evaporation events or possibly from air-blown particles drawn into the drifts through a drift ventilation system). There is no consensus at this time on the chemical composition of water that might come in contact with engineered components at Yucca Mountain. Two possibilities have received the most attention: well J13 water and pore waters from the unsaturated zone (UZ) above the repository horizon. These waters represent the two major types of natural waters at Yucca Mountain. Well J13 water is a dilute Na-HCO{sub 3}-CO{sub 3} water, representative of regional perched water and groundwater. The UZ pore waters are Ca-Cl-SO{sub 4}-rich waters with a higher dissolved ion content. These waters are less well-characterized. We have studied the evaporative evolution of these two major types of waters through a series of open system laboratory experiments, with and without crushed repository-horizon tuff present, conducted at sub-boiling temperatures (75 C-85 C).
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15005967
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-141235; TRN: US0400186
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2001 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference, Las Vegas, NV (US), 04/29/2001--05/03/2001; Other Information: PBD: 1 Oct 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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