Simulation of two-phase carbon-14 transport at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
In support of pacific Northwest Laboratory`s (PNL) preliminary total system performance assessment of the proposed high-level nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, transport of carbon-14 (C{sup 14}) in the unsaturated zone was numerically modeled with the Multiphase Subsurface Transport Simulator (MSTS). Total system performance assessments are being conducted to estimate potential cumulative releases and doses from radionuclides being transported through different pathways to the accessible environment from the proposed waste repository. Transport of radionuclides in the gaseous and liquid phases are pathways through which some of the inventory in the proposed repository could reach the accessible environment. Carbon-14 transport in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain was estimated with MSTS by considering two-phase diffusion, advection, phase petitioning, and radioactive decay.Transport results were based on a two-dimensional physical and hydrogeological system that represented an east-west cross section through Yucca Mountain. Carbon-14 source rates from failed repository waste canisters were estimated from the source term modeling subtasks associated with PNL`s total system performance assessment of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. Simulation results included estimates of liquid, gas, heat, and C{sup 14} transport within the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain. Predictions of C{sup 14} distributions surrounding the proposed nuclear waste repository within Yucca Mountain and a brief description of the thermal-hydrogeologic computer code MSTS are presented.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 138387
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-SA--20324; CONF-920256--2; ON: DE92010496
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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