Nevada Nuclear-Waste-Storage Investigations. Quarterly report, April-June 1982

Technical Report · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/59048· OSTI ID:59048

The Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) are studying the Nevada Test Site (NTS) area to establish whether it would qualify as a licensable location for a commercial nuclear waste repository; determining whether specific underground rock masses in the NTS area are technically acceptable for permanently disposing of highly radioactive solid wastes; and developing and demonstrating the capability to safely handle and store commercial spent reactor fuel and high-level waste. Progress reports for the following eight tasks are presented: systems; waste package; site; repository; regulatory and institutional; test facilities; land acquisition; and program management. Some of the highlights are: A code library was established to provide a central location for documentation of repository performance assessment codes. A two-dimensional finite element code, SAGUARO, was developed for modeling saturated/unsaturated groundwater flow. The results of an initial experiment to determine canister penetration rates due to corrosion indicate the expected strong effect of toxic environmental conditions on the corrosion rate of carbon steel in tuff-conditioned water. Wells USW-H3 and USW-H4 at Yucca Mountain have been sampled for groundwater analysis. A summary characterizing and relating the mineralogy and petrology of Yucca Mountain tuffs was compiled from the findings of studies of core samples from five drill holes.

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, Las Vegas, NV (United States). Nevada Operations Office
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 59048
• Report Number(s): NVO--196-31; ON: DE82021099
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
58 GEOSCIENCES
CONTAINERS
CORROSION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGY
GROUND WATER
HYDROLOGY
MINERALOGY
NEVADA TEST SITE
PETROLOGY
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SITE SELECTION
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
TUFF
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
VOLCANOES
Yucca Mountain Project