Requirements on sealing measures due to gas production
Since 1981 the former rock salt mine Bartensleben near Morsleben (former GDR) ERAM has been in operation as a repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste. As a result of the reunification and the changed licensing situation a new closure concept for the repository has to be developed. During the post-operational phase of a repository for radioactive waste gas may be produced by corrosion of metals, microbial degradation and radiolytic decomposition. In the process of developing the concept to be used for backfilling and sealing in ERAM it is important that gas formed in the repository will not disrupt the barrier against radionuclide escape or enhance the radionuclide release. To evaluate the performance and the properties for a bentonite plug as the main element of the sealings gas transport modelling with TOUGH were performed. Due to the lack of site-specific data literature data were used. Consequently, large uncertainties in data remain at present, which were taken into account by a great number of parameter variations. To handle this a course discretisation for the calculations were developed. Started with a two-dimensional grid at the end the calculations were performed with a coarse one-dimensional grid. The primary question to answer in these calculations is if there is a risk for excessive pressurization of the repository caverns as a result of gas generation. In the reference case a maximum pressure of approximately 10 Mpa inside a cavern is reached after 1000 years which seems not to jeopardize the integrity of the repository.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 107166
- Report Number(s):
- LBL-37200; CONF-9503110-; ON: DE95014788; TRN: 95:006737-0006
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: TOUGH 95: transport of unsaturated ground water and heat workshop, Berkeley, CA (United States), 20-22 Mar 1995; Other Information: PBD: Mar 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the TOUGH Workshop `95 Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California, March 20--22, 1995; Pruess, K. [ed.]; PB: 380 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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