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Title: The Role of Capillary Barrier in Reducing Moisture Content on Waste Packages

Abstract

Assessment of the performance of engineered capillary barriers at the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository site, in which 1.67-m-diameter waste packages are to be emplaced in 5-m-diameter tunnels according to current design, brings up aspects not commonly considered in more typical applications of capillary barriers (e.g., near-surface landfills). Engineered capillary barriers typically consist of two layers of granular materials with a sloping interface, in which the contrast in capillarity between the layers keeps infiltrating water in the upper layer. One issue is the effect of thermohydrologic processes that would occur at elevated repository temperatures (and temperature gradients). For example, backfill materials may be altered from that of the as-placed material by the hydrothermal regime imposed by the emplacement of waste in the repository, changing hydrologic properties in a way that degrades the performance of the barrier. A reduction of permeability in the upper layer might diminish the capacity of the upper layer to divert incoming seepage or to cause a ''vapor lid'' whereby buoyant vapor flow would be trapped, then condense and drain onto waste packages. Other concerns are the result of highly spatially and temporally variable seepage distribution and the very limited spatial scale available for flow attenuationmore » and diversion.« less

Authors:
; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
840674
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JC-134046abs
MOL.19991223.0455, DC#23235; TRN: US0600501
DOE Contract Number:  
NA
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; ATTENUATION; CAPACITY; DESIGN; DISTRIBUTION; GRANULAR MATERIALS; MOISTURE; PERFORMANCE; PERMEABILITY; POSITIONING; RADIOACTIVE WASTES; SANITARY LANDFILLS; WASTES; WATER; YUCCA MOUNTAIN

Citation Formats

Rosenberg, N D, Buscheck, T A, Wildenschild, D, and Sun, Y. The Role of Capillary Barrier in Reducing Moisture Content on Waste Packages. United States: N. p., 1999. Web. doi:10.2172/840674.
Rosenberg, N D, Buscheck, T A, Wildenschild, D, & Sun, Y. The Role of Capillary Barrier in Reducing Moisture Content on Waste Packages. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/840674
Rosenberg, N D, Buscheck, T A, Wildenschild, D, and Sun, Y. 1999. "The Role of Capillary Barrier in Reducing Moisture Content on Waste Packages". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/840674. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/840674.
@article{osti_840674,
title = {The Role of Capillary Barrier in Reducing Moisture Content on Waste Packages},
author = {Rosenberg, N D and Buscheck, T A and Wildenschild, D and Sun, Y},
abstractNote = {Assessment of the performance of engineered capillary barriers at the potential Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository site, in which 1.67-m-diameter waste packages are to be emplaced in 5-m-diameter tunnels according to current design, brings up aspects not commonly considered in more typical applications of capillary barriers (e.g., near-surface landfills). Engineered capillary barriers typically consist of two layers of granular materials with a sloping interface, in which the contrast in capillarity between the layers keeps infiltrating water in the upper layer. One issue is the effect of thermohydrologic processes that would occur at elevated repository temperatures (and temperature gradients). For example, backfill materials may be altered from that of the as-placed material by the hydrothermal regime imposed by the emplacement of waste in the repository, changing hydrologic properties in a way that degrades the performance of the barrier. A reduction of permeability in the upper layer might diminish the capacity of the upper layer to divert incoming seepage or to cause a ''vapor lid'' whereby buoyant vapor flow would be trapped, then condense and drain onto waste packages. Other concerns are the result of highly spatially and temporally variable seepage distribution and the very limited spatial scale available for flow attenuation and diversion.},
doi = {10.2172/840674},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/840674}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 1999},
month = {Fri Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 1999}
}