Enhanced Performance Assessment Models for Generic Deep Geologic Repositories for High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel - 16223
- Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, MS 0747, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States)
- University of Montana, Department of Geosciences, 32 Campus Dr. no. 1296, Missoula, MT 59812 (United States)
Development of an enhanced performance assessment (PA) capability for geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste has been ongoing for several years in the U.S. repository program. The new Generic Disposal System Analysis (GDSA) modeling and software framework is intended to be flexible enough to evolve through the various phases of repository activities, beginning with generic PA activities in the current Concept Evaluation phase to site-specific PA modeling in the Repository Development phase. The GDSA Framework utilizes modern software and hardware capabilities by being based on open-source software architecture and being configured to run in a massively parallel, high-performance computing (HPC) environment. It consists of two main components, the open-source Dakota uncertainty sampling and analysis software and the PFLOTRAN reactive multi-phase flow and transport simulator. Reference cases or 'generic repositories' have been, and are being developed, based on typical properties for potential salt, clay, and granite host-rock formations and corresponding engineered design concepts for each medium. Past simulations have focused on a generic repository in bedded-salt host rock, while the most recent research has focused on a reference case for a typical clay/shale host rock. A variety of single-realization (i.e., deterministic) and multi-realization (probabilistic) results for the new clay reference case are presented, including an analysis of the effects of heat generation on repository performance, assuming a 100-year out-of-reactor commercial SNF waste form. Order-of-magnitude differences between predicted radionuclide concentrations in thermal versus isothermal simulations imply that mechanistic, coupled-process modeling in three-dimensional (3-D) domains can be important for building confidence in post-closure performance assessments. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22838091
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--19-WM-16223
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CLAYS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CONCENTRATION RATIO
GRANITES
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MULTIPHASE FLOW
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIOISOTOPES
SALTS
SPENT FUELS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
WASTE FORMS