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Title: Concept for waste package environment tests in the Yucca Mountain exploratory shaft

Abstract

The Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) project is studying a tuffaceous rock unit located at Yucca Mountain on the western boundary of the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada. The objective is to evaluate the suitability of the volcanic rocks located above the water table at Yucca Mountain as a potential location for a repository for high level radioactive waste. As part of the NNWSI project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is responsible for the design of the waste package and for determining the expected performance of the waste package in the repository environment. To design an optimal waste package system for the unsaturated emplacement environment, the mechanisms by which liquid water can return to contact the metal canister after peaking of the thermal load must be established. Definition of these flux and flow mechanisms is essential for estimating canister corrosion modes and rates. Therefore, three waste package environment tests are being designed for the in situ phase of exploratory shaft testing. These tests emphasize measurement techniques that offer the possibility of characterizing the movement of water into and through the pores and fractures of the densely welded Topopah Spring Member. Other measurement techniques will be used to examine themore » interactions between moisture migration and the thermomechanical rock mass behavior. Three reduced-scale heater tests will use electrical resistive heaters in a horizontal configuration. All three tests are designed to investigate moisture conditions in the rock during heating and cooling phases of a thermal cycle so that the effects of these moisture conditions on the performance of the waste package system may be established. 28 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
59369
Report Number(s):
UCID-20450
ON: DE86000052
DOE Contract Number:  
W-7405-ENG-48
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: May 1985
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
05 NUCLEAR FUELS; HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; PACKAGING; RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL; DESIGN; TESTING; YUCCA MOUNTAIN; NEVADA TEST SITE; TUFF; UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL; CORROSION; WATER; TEMPERATURE EFFECTS; HEATERS; MOISTURE; CONTAINERS; FRACTURES; Yucca Mountain Project

Citation Formats

Yow, Jr, J L. Concept for waste package environment tests in the Yucca Mountain exploratory shaft. United States: N. p., 1985. Web. doi:10.2172/59369.
Yow, Jr, J L. Concept for waste package environment tests in the Yucca Mountain exploratory shaft. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/59369
Yow, Jr, J L. 1985. "Concept for waste package environment tests in the Yucca Mountain exploratory shaft". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/59369. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/59369.
@article{osti_59369,
title = {Concept for waste package environment tests in the Yucca Mountain exploratory shaft},
author = {Yow, Jr, J L},
abstractNote = {The Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) project is studying a tuffaceous rock unit located at Yucca Mountain on the western boundary of the Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada. The objective is to evaluate the suitability of the volcanic rocks located above the water table at Yucca Mountain as a potential location for a repository for high level radioactive waste. As part of the NNWSI project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is responsible for the design of the waste package and for determining the expected performance of the waste package in the repository environment. To design an optimal waste package system for the unsaturated emplacement environment, the mechanisms by which liquid water can return to contact the metal canister after peaking of the thermal load must be established. Definition of these flux and flow mechanisms is essential for estimating canister corrosion modes and rates. Therefore, three waste package environment tests are being designed for the in situ phase of exploratory shaft testing. These tests emphasize measurement techniques that offer the possibility of characterizing the movement of water into and through the pores and fractures of the densely welded Topopah Spring Member. Other measurement techniques will be used to examine the interactions between moisture migration and the thermomechanical rock mass behavior. Three reduced-scale heater tests will use electrical resistive heaters in a horizontal configuration. All three tests are designed to investigate moisture conditions in the rock during heating and cooling phases of a thermal cycle so that the effects of these moisture conditions on the performance of the waste package system may be established. 28 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.},
doi = {10.2172/59369},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/59369}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1985},
month = {Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1985}
}