Modeling for Airborne Contamination
The objective of Modeling for Airborne Contamination (referred to from now on as ''this report'') is to provide a documented methodology, along with supporting information, for estimating the release, transport, and assessment of dose to workers from airborne radioactive contaminants within the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR) subsurface during the pre-closure period. Specifically, this report provides engineers and scientists with methodologies for estimating how concentrations of contaminants might be distributed in the air and on the drift surfaces if released from waste packages inside the repository. This report also provides dose conversion factors for inhalation, air submersion, and ground exposure pathways used to derive doses to potentially exposed subsurface workers. The scope of this report is limited to radiological contaminants (particulate, volatile and gaseous) resulting from waste package leaks (if any) and surface contamination and their transport processes. Neutron activation of air, dust in the air and the rock walls of the drift during the preclosure time is not considered within the scope of this report. Any neutrons causing such activation are not themselves considered to be ''contaminants'' released from the waste package. This report: (1) Documents mathematical models and model parameters for evaluating airborne contaminant transport within the MGR subsurface; and (2) Provides tables of dose conversion factors for inhalation, air submersion, and ground exposure pathways for important radionuclides. The dose conversion factors for air submersion and ground exposure pathways are further limited to drift diameters of 7.62 m and 5.5 m, corresponding to the main and emplacement drifts, respectively. If the final repository design significantly deviates from these drift dimensions, the results in this report may require revision. The dose conversion factors are further derived by using concrete of sufficient thickness to simulate the drift walls. The gamma-ray scattering properties of concrete are sufficiently similar to those of the host rock and proposed insert material; use of concrete will have no significant impact on the conclusions. The information in this report is presented primarily for use in performing pre-closure radiological safety evaluations of radiological contaminants, but it may also be used to develop strategies for contaminant leak detection and monitoring in the MGR. Included in this report are the methods for determining the source terms and release fractions, and mathematical models and model parameters for contaminant transport and distribution within the repository. Various particle behavior mechanisms that affect the transport of contaminant are included. These particle behavior mechanisms include diffusion, settling, resuspension, agglomeration and other deposition mechanisms.
- Research Organization:
- Yucca Mountain Project, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- NA
- OSTI ID:
- 893836
- Report Number(s):
- TDR-WER-NU-000001, Rev. 00; MOL.20000926.0233, DC# 22109; TRN: US0606161
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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