THE PENA BLANCA NATURAL ANALOGUE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT MODEL
The Nopal I uranium mine in the Sierra Pena Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico serves as a natural analogue to the Yucca Mountain repository. The Pena Blanca Natural Analogue Performance Assessment Model simulates the mobilization and transport of radionuclides that are released from the mine and transported to the saturated zone. The Pena Blanca Natural Analogue Performance Assessment Model uses probabilistic simulations of hydrogeologic processes that are analogous to the processes that occur at the Yucca Mountain site. The Nopal I uranium deposit lies in fractured, welded, and altered rhyolitic ash-flow tuffs that overlie carbonate rocks, a setting analogous to the geologic formations at the Yucca Mountain site. The Nopal I mine site has the following analogous characteristics as compared to the Yucca Mountain repository site: (1) Analogous source--UO{sub 2} uranium ore deposit = spent nuclear fuel in the repository; (2) Analogous geology--(i.e. fractured, welded, and altered rhyolitic ash-flow tuffs); (3) Analogous climate--Semiarid to arid; (4) Analogous setting--Volcanic tuffs overlie carbonate rocks; and (5) Analogous geochemistry--Oxidizing conditions Analogous hydrogeology: The ore deposit lies in the unsaturated zone above the water table.
- Research Organization:
- Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 883056
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Natural Analog Studies at Pena Blanca, Mexico
Stratigraphy of the PB-1 well, Nopal I uranium deposit, Sierra Pena Blanca, Chihuahua, Mexico
Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CARBONATE ROCKS
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
MEXICO
NATURAL ANALOGUE
NUCLEAR FUELS
PERFORMANCE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
TRANSPORT
URANIUM DEPOSITS
URANIUM MINES
URANIUM ORES
WATER TABLES
YUCCA MOUNTAIN