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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
The release rate of radionuclides from a degraded canister containing radioactive waste is controlled by diffusion through the backfill and by diffusion into the water flowing past the canister. In low porosity low permeability bedrock like the Swedish granites the amount of water which can be contaminated may be very small. Two sample cases are calculated. One uses the conditions for a repository for vitrified high level waste, the other applies to a repository for spent fuel. The small amount of water which can carry the waste in combination with the low solubilities for the major longlived actinides limit the release rate from the repositories to very small values.