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Probabilistic modeling of radionuclide release at the waste package subsystem boundary of a repository in basalt

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5956876
; ;
Estimation of potential radionuclide releases from the waste package subsystem of a nuclear waste repository is required for two reasons: (1) to judge whether the engineered barrier system complies with the performance regulations prescribed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and (2) to provide radionuclide source terms needed to predict the isolation performance of the natural barriers (i.e., geologic medium) which must be compared with the US Environmental Protection Agency safety standard. In this paper, a probabilistic approach developed at the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP), for the estimation of radionuclide releases from a proposed nuclear waste repository in basalt is presented. The central idea of this approach is that uncertainties in both the radionuclide transport parameters and the random nature of container failures impact the estimation of release rates. Details of the method are provided which account for both sources of uncertainty. Sample applications are presented that are based on preliminary data. Briefly, the BWIP methodology consists of (1) a container corrosion model, (2) a model describing the random sequence of container failures in time, (3) a stochastic transport model to obtain the probability distribution of releases from a single container failing at a specified time, and (4) a model to integrate the releases from the randomly failing containers in the repository.
Research Organization:
Rockwell International Corp., Richland, WA (USA). Rockwell Hanford Operations
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-77RL01030
OSTI ID:
5956876
Report Number(s):
RHO-BW-SA-506-P; ON: DE86010454
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

052002 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
053000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Environmental Aspects
054000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BASALT
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONTAINERS
CORROSION
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FAILURES
IGNEOUS ROCKS
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PACKAGING
PERFORMANCE
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
ROCKS
SOURCE TERMS
VOLCANIC ROCKS