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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Behavior of spent fuel under unsaturated conditions

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:46609
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Chemical Technology Div.
To evaluate the performance of spent fuel in the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, spent fuel fragments are being exposed to small and intermittent amounts of simulated groundwater under unsaturated conditions. Both the leachate and the visual appearance of the spent fuel have been characterized for 581 days of testing. The amount of Am and Cm measured in the leachates was one to two orders of magnitude greater than that released from spent fuel under saturated conditions. The cause of this difference has not been firmly identified but may be attributable to the presence of large amounts of actinide-containing colloids in the leachate of the unsaturated tests.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
46609
Report Number(s):
ANL/CMT/CP--83895; CONF-941207--33; ON: DE95009899
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English