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Modelling Radionuclide Transport in Cracks Through Cemented Radioactive Waste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

A. V. Chambers
A. V. Chambers*
Affiliation:
AEA Technology, 424.4 Harwell, Oxon 0X11 ORA, UK.
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Abstract

It is currently proposed to site the UK repository for intermediate-level radioactive waste (ILW) underground at a depth of several hundred metres, and to use a cementitious backfill to fill spaces between disposal packages within the repository vaults. Flow of water through the repository could be concentrated within cracks that may form in the backfill. This paper describes the CRACK and CRACK2 computer programs. These are used to predict radionuclide release via cracks, and radionuclide distributions within the vault. The programs are applied to an assessment of the release of inventory- and solubility-limited radionuclides from hypothetical ILW vaults. Calculations are reported for different densities of cracking, and for different repository designs, and the dominant modes of transport within cracks in repository vaults are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 353: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XVIII , 1994 , 891
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

REFERENCES

1. Chambers, A.V. and Gabriel, D.S., UK Nirex Ltd Report, Report No. NSS/R371, in preparation (1994).Google Scholar
2. Lever, D.A., Bradbury, M.H. and Hemingway, S.J., Prog.Nucl.Energy, 12, 85–117 (1983).Google Scholar
3. Fried, I., Numerical Solution of Differential Equations (Academic Press, New York, 1979), pp 1–24.Google Scholar
4. Yeh, G.T. and Tripathi, V.S., Water Resour. Res., 25, 93–108 (1989).Google Scholar
5. Chambers, A.V. and Smith, A.C., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XVII. edited by Barkatt, A. and Van Konynenburg, R.A. (Materials Research Society, Pittsburg, 1994) pp 855–860.Google Scholar