A computer program to facilitate performance assessment of underground low-level waste concrete vaults

Conference · Thu Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:264455

Snyder, K A; Clifton, J R ^[1]; Pommersheim, J ^[2]

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1. National Inst. of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
2. Bucknell Univ., Lewisberg, PA (United States)

A computer program (4SIGHT) to facilitate performance assessment of underground concrete vaults for low level waste (LLW) disposal facilities is being developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Specifically, the program predicts the hydraulic conductivity and the service life of an underground concrete vault. The hydraulic conductivity estimate is based upon empirical relations. The service life is estimated from consideration of three major degradation processes: steel reinforcement corrosion, sulfate attack, and leaching. The performance prediction is based upon ion transport equations for both diffusion and advection. Most importantly, the computer program incorporates the synergistic degradation effects of all three processes, and their effect upon the transport coefficients.

• OSTI ID: 264455
• Report Number(s): CONF-951155--; ISBN 1-55899-315-0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CORROSION
CORROSIVE EFFECTS
CRACKS
FLOW MODELS
GROUND WATER
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
NUMBER CODES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
REINFORCED CONCRETE
SERVICE LIFE
STEELS
SULFATES
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL