Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:15:50.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Release and Transport of Gaseous C-14 from a Nuclear Waste Repository in an Unsaturated Medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

W.B. Light ,
E.D. Zwahlen ,
T.H. Pigford ,
P.L. ChambrÉ  and
W.W.-L. Lee
W.B. Light
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
E.D. Zwahlen
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
T.H. Pigford
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
P.L. ChambrÉ
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
W.W.-L. Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720–0001
Get access

Abstract

The potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain is to be in partially saturated rock. Released radioactive gases such as 14CO2 could have a direct pathway to the biosphere. We study the release of 14C released as 14CO2 from partly failed nuclear waste containers by analyzing the flow of gas into and out of a container. We analyze the transport of released 14CO2 in an unsaturated, fractured, porous medium with gas-phase advection and dispersion. We calculate the inhalation dose to a maximally exposed individual above ground, based on some conservative assumptions about release from containers. For the assumed parameter values, a simple atmospheric diffusion model gives very small doses when compared to background radiation doses.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 212: Symposium P – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XIV , 1990 , 863
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1991

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.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Benedict, M., Pigford, T. H., and Levi, H. W., Nuclear Chemical Engineering, Second Edition, (McGraw-Hill, New York 1981).Google Scholar
2. Light, W. B., Zwahlen, E. D., Pigford, T. H., Chambré, P. L. and Lee, W. W.-L., “C-14 Release and Transport from a Nuclear Waste Repository in an Unsaturated Medium,” LBL–28923 (1990).Google Scholar
3. U.S. Department of Energy, “Site Characterization Plan, Yucca Mountain Site, Nevada Research and Development Area, Nevada,” DOE/RW–0199 (1988).Google Scholar
4. Light, W. B., Pigford, T. H., Chambré, P. L. and Lee, W. W.-L., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XIII, edited by Oversby, V. M. and Brown, P. W., (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc. 176, Pittsburgh, PA 1990) p. 761.Google Scholar
5. Light, W. B., Chambré, P. L., Lee, W. W.-L. and Pigford, T. H., “Transport of Gaseous C-14 from a Repository in Unsaturated Rock,” LBL–29744 (1990).Google Scholar
6. Schiager, K. J., Radiation Data and Rpts, 15, 411 (1974).Google Scholar
7. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, “Screening Techniques for Determining Compliance with Environmental Standards: Releases of Radionuclides to the Atmosphere,” NCRP Commentary 3, (1989).Google Scholar
8. Park, U. S. and Pflum, C. G., “Requirements for Controlling a Repository’s Releases of Carbon-14 Dioxide; The High Costs and Negligible Benefits,” Proceedings of the 1990 International High Level Waste Management Conference, Las Vegas, NV, 1158 (1990).Google Scholar
9. Bird, R. B., Stewart, W. E. and Lightfoot, E. N., Transport Phenomena, (Wiley, New York 1960).Google Scholar
10. Peters, R.R., Klavetter, E.A., Hall, I.J., Blair, S.C., Heller, P.R. and Gee, G.W., “Fracture and Matrix Hydrologic Characteristics of Tuffaceous Materials from Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Neveda,” SAND84–1471 (1984).Google Scholar
11. Tsang, Y.W. and Pruess, K., Water Resources Research, 23, 1958 (1987).Google Scholar
12. Barr, S. and Clements, W. E., “Diffusion Modeling: Principles of Application,” in Randerson, D. (ed.), Atmospheric Science and Power Production, DOE/TIC✁27601, 584 (1984).Google Scholar