Mass transfer of soluble species into backfill and rock

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7125832

Chambre, P L; Kang, C H; Lee, W W.L.; Pigford, T H

In a spent-fuel waste package placed in a geologic repository, the solublecesium and iodine isotopes accumulated in fuel-cladding gap, voids, and grain boundaries of spent-fuel rods are expected to dissolve rapidly when groundwater penetrates the fuel rods. Chambre's previous mass-transfer analyses and calculations by Kim et al. for spent fuel without backfill show that this soluble gap activity of cesium an iodine is the greatest contributor to fractional release rates for these radioelements into surrounding rock, in qualitative agreement with laboratory experiments on spent-fuel rods with locally perforated classing. Chambre has extended the mass-transfer analysis to include diffusion of soluble species through backfill into surrounding rock in one-dimensional planar geometry. Here the authors present numerical illustrations of release rates into porous rock as a function of backfill thickness for parameters typical of a wet-rock repository. Results are compared with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) criterion for release rates.

• Research Organization: Univ. of California, Berkeley
• OSTI ID: 7125832
• Report Number(s): CONF-861102-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 53
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
510300 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALKALI METALS
CESIUM
CONTAINERS
ELEMENTS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FAILURES
FUEL CANS
GROUND WATER
HALOGENS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IODINE
MASS TRANSFER
METALS
NONMETALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
ROCKS
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
STORAGE
TIME DEPENDENCE
UNDERGROUND STORAGE
WASTE-ROCK INTERACTIONS
WATER