DPC Direct Disposal Postclosure Thermal Modeling

Technical Report · Wed Aug 31 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1884888· OSTI ID:1884888

Chang, Kyung Won ^[1]; Jones, Philip ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)

Performance of geologic radioactive waste repositories depends on near-field and far-field processes, including km-scale flow and transport in engineered and natural barriers, that may require simulations of up to 1 M years of regulatory period. For a relatively short time span (less than 1000 years), the thermohydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) coupled processes caused by heat from the waste package will influence near-field multiphase flow, chemical/reactive transport, and mechanical behaviors in the repository system. This study integrates the heat-driven perturbations in thermo-hydro-mechanical characteristics into thermo-hydro-chemical simulations using PFLOTRAN to reduce dimensionality and improve computational efficiency by implementing functions of stress-dependent permeability and saturation-temperature-dependent thermal conductivity. These process couplings are developed for spent nuclear fuel in dual-purpose canisters in two different hypothetical repositories: a shale repository and a salt repository.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 1884888
• Report Number(s): SAND2022-11588R; 709184
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES