Liquid permeability measurements on densely welded tuff over the temperature range 25 to 90{sup 0}C.
The Topopah Spring welded unit in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, on and adjacent to the Nevada Test Site, is currently being studied for consideration as the host unit for a radioactive waste repository. The US Department of Energy is carrying out these studies through the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) project. In support of this effort, liquid permeability experiments, using distilled and deaerated water as the pore fluid, were conducted on a sample of densely welded tuffaceous material from the Nevada Test Site. The primary independent variable was the core temperature, which was systematically increased, then decreased, over the range 25 to 90{sup 0}C. Confining pressure was maintained constant at 15.2 MPa. Pore water continually flowed through the tuff sample during an extensive three-month test period. The transient pressure decay techique was utilized to measure core permeability. Geochemical analyses of the pore water exiting the core at 90{sup 0}C showed increased concentrations of silicon, calcium, sodium, potassium and strontium. Fluid mechanic results showed liquid permeability of the tuff core to be {approx_equal}3 x 10{sup -19} m{sup 2}, independent of temperature.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 59855
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-85-2482; ON: DE86009541
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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