The relationship of the Yucca Mountain repository block to the regional ground-water system: A geochemical model
- Nevada Univ., Reno, NV (United States). Water Resources Center
Yucca Mountain, in southern Nevada, is being studied by the Department of Energy and the State of Nevada as the site of a high-level nuclear waste repository. Geochemical and isotopic modeling were used in this study to define the relationship of the volcanic tuff aquifers and aquitards to the underlying regional carbonate ground-water system. The chemical evolution of a ground water as it passes through a hypothetical tuffaceous aquifer was developed using computer models PHREEQE, WATEQDR and BALANCE. The tuffaceous system was divided into five parts, with specific mineralogies, reaction steps and temperatures. The initial solution was an analysis of a soil water from Rainier Mesa. The ending solution in each part became the initial solution in the next part. Minerals consisted of zeolites, smectites, authigenic feldspars and quartz polymorphs from described diagentic mineral zones. Reaction steps were ion exchange with zeolites. The solution from the final zone, Part V, was chosen as most representative, in terms of pH, element molalities and mineral solubilities, of tuffaceous water. This hypothetical volcanic water from Part V was mixed with water from the regional carbonate aquifer, and the results compared to analyses of Yucca Mountain wells. Mixing and modeling attempts were conducted on wells in which studies indicated upward flow.
- Research Organization:
- Nevada Nuclear Waste Project Office, Carson City, NV (United States); Nevada Univ., Reno, NV (United States). Water Resources Center
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG08-85NV10461
- OSTI ID:
- 139148
- Report Number(s):
- NWPO-TR--011-89; ON: DE93013204
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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