Ground-water flow and transport modeling of the NRC-licensed waste disposal facility, West Valley, New York

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6145260· OSTI ID:6145260

Kool, J B; Wu, Y S ^[1]

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1. HydroGeoLogic, Inc., Herndon, VA (United States)

This report describes a simulation study of groundwater flow and radionuclide transport from disposal at the NRC licensed waste disposal facility in West Valley, New York. A transient, precipitation driven, flow model of the near-surface fractured till layer and underlying unweathered till was developed and calibrated against observed inflow data into a recently constructed interceptor trench for the period March--May 1990. The results suggest that lateral flow through the upper, fractured till layer may be more significant than indicated by previous, steady state flow modeling studies. A conclusive assessment of the actual magnitude of lateral flow through the fractured till could however not be made. A primary factor contributing to this uncertainty is the unknown contribution of vertical infiltration through the interceptor trench cap to the total trench inflow. The second part of the investigation involved simulation of the migration of Sr-90, Cs-137 and Pu-239 from the one of the fuel hull disposal pits. A first-order radionuclide leach rate with rate coefficient of 10{sup {minus}6}/day was assumed to describe radionuclide release into the disposal pit. The simulations indicated that for wastes buried below the fractured till zone, no significant migration would occur. However, under the assumed conditions, significant lateral migration could occur for radionuclides present in the upper, fractured till zone. 23 refs., 68 figs., 12 tabs.

• Research Organization: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Regulatory Applications; HydroGeoLogic, Inc., Herndon, VA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USNRC; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 6145260
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-5794; ON: TI92003257
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
GROUND WATER
FLOW MODELS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
WELLS
MONITORING
CESIUM 137
DISPOSAL WELLS
GEOLOGY
PLUTONIUM 239
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
STRATIGRAPHY
STRONTIUM 90
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM ISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SIMULATION
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
540330* - Environment
Aquatic- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
990200 - Mathematics & Computers
052002 - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage