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Effect of roof slope and thickness on the performance of a saltstone vault

Conference ·
OSTI ID:103528
At the Savannah River Site, low-level radioactive decontaminated salt solution is mixed with slag, flyash, and cement to form a grout-like material called ``Saltstone.`` The Saltstone is poured into concrete vaults constructed at the Saltstone Disposal Facility (SDF). The SDF is designed for the release of contaminants in a slow, controlled manner over thousands of years. The impact of SDF on groundwater has been studied in a radiological performance assessment (PA). Groundwater models were used to predict the fluid flow and contaminant transport at SDF. The models predicted a spatial contaminant concentration distribution in groundwater as a function of time. This study focuses on the roof configuration of Saltstone vault, with special interests in cost-effectiveness. We conducted a study to evaluate the effect of roof slope and thickness on the performance of a Saltstone vault. Four roof configurations were simulated. The tool used for the simulation was ECLIPSE, a finite-difference petroleum reservoir engineering code with an environmental tracer option. Nitrate was used as the ``tracer`` contaminant. In this study, ECLIPSE solves the two-phase two-dimensional flow and transport problem up to 10,000 years. This paper describes a modeling study used to evaluate roof design options for the Saltstone vault.
Research Organization:
Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-89SR18035
OSTI ID:
103528
Report Number(s):
WSRC-MS--95-0084; CONF-950788--8; ON: DE95017480
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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