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Title: Evaluation of Used Fuel Disposition in Clay-Bearing Rock

Abstract

The DOE R&D program under the Spent Fuel Waste Science Technology (SFWST) campaign has made key progress in modeling and experimental approaches towards the characterization of chemical and physical phenomena that could impact the long-term safety assessment of nuclear waste disposition in deep clay/shale/argillaceous rock. Interactional collaboration activities such as heater tests, particularly postmortem sample recovery and analysis, have elucidated important information regarding changes in engineered barrier system (EBS) material exposed to years of thermal loads. Chemical and structural analyses of bentonite material from such tests has been key to the characterization of thermal effects affecting clay composition, sorption behavior, and swelling. These are crucial to evaluating the nature and extent of bentonite barrier sacrificial zones in the EBS during the thermal period. Thermal, hydrologic, and chemical data collected from heater tests and laboratory experiments has been used in the development and validation of THMC simulators to model near-field coupled processes affecting engineered and natural barrier materials, particularly during the thermal period. This information leads to the development of simulation approaches (e.g., continuum vs. discrete) to tackle issues related to flow and transport depending on the nature of the host-rock and EBS design concept. This report describes R&D efforts onmore » disposal in argillaceous geologic media through developments of coupled THMC process models, hydrothermal experiments and characterization of clay/metal barrier material interactions, and spent fuel and canister material degradation. Currently, the THM modeling focus is on heater test experiments in argillite rock and gas migration in bentonite as part of international collaboration activities at underground research laboratories (URLs). In addition, field testing at an URL involves probing of fault movement and characterization of fault permeability changes. Analyses of barrier samples (bentonite) from heater tests at URLs provide compositional and structural data to evaluate changes in clay swelling and thermal behavior with distance from the heater surface. Development of a spent fuel degradation model coupled with canister corrosion effects has been centered towards its integration with Generic Disposal System Analysis (GDSA) to describe source term behavior. As in previous milestone deliverables, this report is structured according to various national laboratory contributions describing R&D activities applicable to clay/shale/argillite media.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Fuel Cycle Technologies (NE-5)
OSTI Identifier:
1481545
Report Number(s):
SAND-2018-12044R
668955
DOE Contract Number:  
AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Jove-Colon, Carlos F., Payne, Clay, Knight, Andrew William, Ho, Tuan Anh, Rutqvist, Jonny, kim, Kunwi, Xu, Hao, Guglielmi, Yves, Birkholzer, Jens, Caporuscio, Florie, Sauer, Kirsten B., Rock, M. J., Houser, L. M., Jerden, James, Gattu, Vineeth K., and Ebert, William. Evaluation of Used Fuel Disposition in Clay-Bearing Rock. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.2172/1481545.
Jove-Colon, Carlos F., Payne, Clay, Knight, Andrew William, Ho, Tuan Anh, Rutqvist, Jonny, kim, Kunwi, Xu, Hao, Guglielmi, Yves, Birkholzer, Jens, Caporuscio, Florie, Sauer, Kirsten B., Rock, M. J., Houser, L. M., Jerden, James, Gattu, Vineeth K., & Ebert, William. Evaluation of Used Fuel Disposition in Clay-Bearing Rock. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1481545
Jove-Colon, Carlos F., Payne, Clay, Knight, Andrew William, Ho, Tuan Anh, Rutqvist, Jonny, kim, Kunwi, Xu, Hao, Guglielmi, Yves, Birkholzer, Jens, Caporuscio, Florie, Sauer, Kirsten B., Rock, M. J., Houser, L. M., Jerden, James, Gattu, Vineeth K., and Ebert, William. 2018. "Evaluation of Used Fuel Disposition in Clay-Bearing Rock". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1481545. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1481545.
@article{osti_1481545,
title = {Evaluation of Used Fuel Disposition in Clay-Bearing Rock},
author = {Jove-Colon, Carlos F. and Payne, Clay and Knight, Andrew William and Ho, Tuan Anh and Rutqvist, Jonny and kim, Kunwi and Xu, Hao and Guglielmi, Yves and Birkholzer, Jens and Caporuscio, Florie and Sauer, Kirsten B. and Rock, M. J. and Houser, L. M. and Jerden, James and Gattu, Vineeth K. and Ebert, William},
abstractNote = {The DOE R&D program under the Spent Fuel Waste Science Technology (SFWST) campaign has made key progress in modeling and experimental approaches towards the characterization of chemical and physical phenomena that could impact the long-term safety assessment of nuclear waste disposition in deep clay/shale/argillaceous rock. Interactional collaboration activities such as heater tests, particularly postmortem sample recovery and analysis, have elucidated important information regarding changes in engineered barrier system (EBS) material exposed to years of thermal loads. Chemical and structural analyses of bentonite material from such tests has been key to the characterization of thermal effects affecting clay composition, sorption behavior, and swelling. These are crucial to evaluating the nature and extent of bentonite barrier sacrificial zones in the EBS during the thermal period. Thermal, hydrologic, and chemical data collected from heater tests and laboratory experiments has been used in the development and validation of THMC simulators to model near-field coupled processes affecting engineered and natural barrier materials, particularly during the thermal period. This information leads to the development of simulation approaches (e.g., continuum vs. discrete) to tackle issues related to flow and transport depending on the nature of the host-rock and EBS design concept. This report describes R&D efforts on disposal in argillaceous geologic media through developments of coupled THMC process models, hydrothermal experiments and characterization of clay/metal barrier material interactions, and spent fuel and canister material degradation. Currently, the THM modeling focus is on heater test experiments in argillite rock and gas migration in bentonite as part of international collaboration activities at underground research laboratories (URLs). In addition, field testing at an URL involves probing of fault movement and characterization of fault permeability changes. Analyses of barrier samples (bentonite) from heater tests at URLs provide compositional and structural data to evaluate changes in clay swelling and thermal behavior with distance from the heater surface. Development of a spent fuel degradation model coupled with canister corrosion effects has been centered towards its integration with Generic Disposal System Analysis (GDSA) to describe source term behavior. As in previous milestone deliverables, this report is structured according to various national laboratory contributions describing R&D activities applicable to clay/shale/argillite media.},
doi = {10.2172/1481545},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1481545}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}