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Title: Large block migration experiments: INTRAVAL phase 1, Test Case 9

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6590727· OSTI ID:6590727
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Battelle, Willowbrook, IL (USA). Office of Waste Technology Development
  2. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Ottawa, ON (Canada)

The development of INTRAVAL Test Case 9, as presented in this report, was made possible by a past subsidiary agreement to the bilateral cooperative agreement between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) encompassing various aspects of nuclear waste disposal research. The experimental aspect of this test case, which included a series of laboratory experiments designed to quantify the migration of tracers in a single, natural fracture, was undertaken by AECL. The numerical simulation of the results of these experiments was performed by the Battelle Office of Waste Technology Development (OWTD) by calibrating an in-house analytical code, FRACFLO, which is capable of predicting radionuclide transport in an idealized fractured rock. Three tracer migration experiments were performed, using nonsorbing uranine dye for two of them and sorbing Cs-137 for the third. In addition, separate batch experiments were performed to determine the fracture surface and rock matrix sorption coefficients for Cs-137. The two uranine tracer migration experiment were used to calculate the average fracture aperture and to calibrate the model for the fracture dispersivity and matrix diffusion coefficient. The predictive capability of the model was then tested by simulating the third, Cs-137, tracer test without changing the parameter values determined from the other experiments. Breakthrough curves of both the experimental and numerical results obtained at the outlet face of the fracture are presented for each experiment. The reported spatial concentration profiles for the rock matrix are based solely on numerical predictions. 22 refs., 12 figs., 8 tabs.

Research Organization:
Battelle, Willowbrook, IL (USA). Office of Waste Technology Development
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/RW
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-83CH10139
OSTI ID:
6590727
Report Number(s):
BMI/OWTD-7; ON: DE91000670
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English