Unsaturated-zone fast-path flow calculations for Yucca Mountain GWTT analyses
- Sandia National Lab., Albuquerque, NM (United States); and others
Sandia National Laboratories has developed calculational tools and modeling domains for groundwater-flow analyses; these tools are being used for evaluation of the Postclosure Geohydrology guideline in 10 CFR 960 [with emphasis on the Groundwater Travel Time (GWTT) disqualifying condition] for a potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NV. The emphasis of this work is on investigations of hydrologic processes and hydrogeologic features that may produce fast-path flow in the unsaturated zone (UZ) at Yucca Mountain. Based on the current understanding, conceptual models for UZ flow at Yucca Mountain generally assume that flow in fractures will be the mechanism for fastest water movement, and thus for fastest contaminant transport. The models used for these analyses require saturated conditions in the rock before UZ fracture flow can be initiated and sustained. This work investigates the initiation of fracture flow due to the creation of locally saturated zones in the unsaturated Yucca Mountain tuffs caused by natural heterogeneities in the rock units. For this purpose, we have developed model domain, using the composite-porosity flow model, where local saturation can be achieved without arbitrarily introducing saturated boundary conditions.
- OSTI ID:
- 127140
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9504179--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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