Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-sl7kg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-14T06:28:59.626Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Episodic Nonequilibrium Fracture-Matrix Flow on Repository Performance at the Potential Yucca Mountain Site

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Thomas A. Buscheck ,
John J. Nitao  and
Dwayne A. Chesnut
Thomas A. Buscheck
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Department, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory P.O. Box 808, L-206, Livermore, CA 94550 (510) 423-9390, (510) 423-0297, (510) 423-5053
John J. Nitao
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Department, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory P.O. Box 808, L-206, Livermore, CA 94550 (510) 423-9390, (510) 423-0297, (510) 423-5053
Dwayne A. Chesnut
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Department, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory P.O. Box 808, L-206, Livermore, CA 94550 (510) 423-9390, (510) 423-0297, (510) 423-5053
Get access

Abstract

Adequate representation of fracture-matrix interaction during episodic infiltration events is crucial in making valid hydrological predictions of repository performance at Yucca Mountain. Approximations have been applied to represent fracture-matrix flow interaction, including the Equivalent Continuum Model, which assumes capillary equilibrium between fractures and matrix, and the Fracture-Matrix Model, which accounts for nonequilibrium fracture-matrix flow. We analyze the impact of matrix imbibition on episodic nonequilibrium fracture-matrix flow and transport for the eight major hydrostratigraphic units in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 257: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XV , 1991 , 607
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

1. Klavetter, E.A., and Peters, R.R., “A Continuum Model for Water Movement in an Unsaturated Fracture Rock Mass,” Water Resources Research, Vol. 24, pp. 416–430 (1988).Google Scholar
2. Buscheck, T.A., and Nitao, J.J., “Estimates of the Width of the Wetting Zone Along a Fracture Subjected to an Episodic Infiltration Event in Variably Saturated, Densely Welded Tuff,” UCID-21579, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (1988).Google Scholar
3. Nitao, J.J., and Buscheck, T.A., “On the Infiltration of a Liquid Front in an Unsaturated, Fractured Porous Medium,” Proceedings American Nuclear Society Topical Meeting on Nuclear Waste Isolation in the Unsaturated Zone (Focus 89), Las Vegas, NV, Sept. 17-21 (1989).Google Scholar
4. Nitao, J.J., “Theory of Matrix and Fracture Flow Regimes in Unsaturated, Fractured Porous Media,” UCRL-JC-104933, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (1991).Google Scholar
5. Nitao, J.J., “V-TOUGH - An Enhanced Version of the TOUGH Code for the Thermal and Hydrologic Simulation of Large-Scale Problems in Nuclear Waste Isolation,” UCID-21954, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (1989).Google Scholar
6. Pruess, K. “TOUGH User's Guide,” NUREG/CR-4645, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1987).Google Scholar
7. Nitao, J.J., “On the Infiltration of a Liquid Front in an Unsaturated, Fractured Porous Media, Part II,” UCID-21743, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (1989).Google Scholar
8. Klavetter, E.A., and Peters, R.R., “Estimation of Hydrologic Properties of an Unsaturated Fracture Rock Mass,” SAND84-2642, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (1986).Google Scholar
9. DOE (U.S. Dept of Energy), “Yucca Mountain Project Reference Information Base,” YMP/CC-0002 (Version 04.002), Nevada Operations Office, Las Vegas, NV (1990).Google Scholar
10. Buscheck, T.A., and Nitao, J.J., “Nonequilibrium Fracture-Matrix Flow During Episodic Infiltration Events in Yucca Mountain,” Proceedings of the Fifth NRC Workshop on Flow and Transport through Unsaturated Fractured Rock, Univ. of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ, Jan. 7-10, 1991. Also, UCRL-ID-108311, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (1991).Google Scholar
11. Norris, A.E., “The Use of Chlorine Isotope Measurements to Trace Water Movements at Yucca Mountain,” Proceedings American Nuclear Society Topical Meeting on Nuclear Waste Isolation in the Unsaturated Zone (Focus 89), Las Vegas, NV, Sept. 17-21 (1989).Google Scholar
12. Thorstenson, D.C., Weeks, E.P., Haas, H., and Woodward, J.C., “Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Topographically Affected Airflow in an Open Borehole at Yucca Mountain, Nevada,” Proceedings American Nuclear Society Topical Meeting on Nuclear Waste Isolation in the Unsaturated Zone (Focus 89), Las Vegas, NV, Sept 17-21, 1989.Google Scholar
13. Buscheck, T.A., and Nitao, J.J., “Impact of Episodic Nonequilibrium Fracture-Matrix Flow on Geological Repository Performance,” UCRL-JC-106759, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (1991).Google Scholar
14. Witherspoon, P.A., Wang, J.S.Y., Iwai, K., and Gale, J.E., “Validity of Cubic Law for Fluid Flow in a Deformable Rock Fracture,” Water Resources Research, Vol. 16, pp. 1016–1024 (1980).Google Scholar
15. Montazer, P, Weeks, E.P., Thamir, F., Yard, S.N., and Hofrichter, P.B., “Monitoring the Vadose Zone in Fractured Tuff, Yucca Mountain, Nevada,” Characterization and Monitoring of the Vadose Zone, National Water Well Association Symposium, Denver, CO, Nov. 19-21, 1985.Google Scholar
16. Thordarson, W., “Geohydrologic Data and Test Results from Well J-13, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada,” Water Resources Investigations Rep. 83-4171, U.S.G.S., Denver, CO (1983).Google Scholar
17. DOE (U.S. Dept of Energy) “Environmental Assessment: Yucca Mountain Site, Nevada Research and Development Area, Nevada, Volume II,” DOE/RW-0073, 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Ortiz, T.S., Williams, R.L., Nimick, R.B., Whittet, B.C., and South, D.L., “Three-Dimensional Model of Reference Thermal-Mechanical and Hydrological Stratigraphy at Yucca Mountain, Southern Nevada,” SAND84-1076, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (1985).Google Scholar