Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-28T15:05:36.801Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Natural Analogues—A Way to Increase Confidence in Predictions of Long-Term Performance of Radioactive Waste Disposal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

G. F. Birchard  and
D. H. Alexander
G. F. Birchard
Affiliation:
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555
D. H. Alexander
Affiliation:
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555
Get access

Abstract

No exact analogue to a radioactive waste disposal system exists but by studying natural analogues of the most important components or subsystems of a waste repository, confidence in long-term predictions can be increased. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is supporting research on igneous intrusions into proposed repository-type host rock (basalt, tuff, crystalline hard-rock, and salt), on uranium ore body analogues, on actinide solubility as a function of natural complexing agents in closed basin lakes and on field migration of radionuclide species at low-level waste and uranium mill tailings disposal sites. The NRC is studying analogues to ensure that important parameters which might be overlooked in laboratory tests and in modeling because of problems with scaling time, space and geologic complexity can be identified and their importance bounded.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 15: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VI , 1982 , 323
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1983

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. Uziemblo, N. H., Erikson, R. L., and Gee, G. W.; pp. 597–608;Google Scholar
1a. Peterson, S. R. and Krupka, K. M.; pp. 609–626 in: Uranium Mill Tailings Management, Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium, 1981 (Colorado State University, Fort Collins).Google Scholar
2. Geological Survey, U.S., Open File Report, in preparation.Google Scholar
3. Pietrzak, R. F., Czyscinski, K. S., and Weiss, A. J.; Evaluation of Isotope Migration-Land Burial, Water Chemistry At Commercially Operated Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites, Annual Report October 1980 - September 1981, NUREG/CR 2616, BNL-NUREG-51514, USNRC, Washington, DC (1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Winograd, I. J., Science, V. 212, No. 4502, p. 1457–1464, (1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Kirby, L. J., editor, Radionuclide Distributions and Migration Mechanisms at Shallow Land Burial Sites, Annual Report, October 1980 - September 1981, NUREG/CR-2383, PNL 4067, USNRC, Washington, DC (1982).Google Scholar
6. Coles, D. G. and Ramspott, L. P.; Science, V. 215, No. 4537, pp. 1235–1237, (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Robertson, D. E., Abel, K. H., Rickard, W. H., and Toste, A. P.; Influence of the Physicochemical Forms of Radionuclides During Migration in Groundwaters, Annual Progress Report for October 1980 - September 1981, USNRC (unpublished, 1981).Google Scholar
8. Simpson, H. J., Trier, R. M., Olsen, C. R., Hammond, D. E., Ege, A., Miller, L., and Melack, J. M.; Science, V. 207, No. 4435, pp. 1071–1073, (1980).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Wollenberg, H. A., Brookins, D. G., Cohen, L. H., Flexser, S., and Absashian, M.; Quarterly Report to USNRC (unpublished, 1982)Google Scholar
10. Airey, P., et al. ; Annual Report, June 1981 – June 1982, to USNRC, (unpublished, 1982).Google Scholar
11. Tanner, A. B., Radon Migration in the Ground: A Review, in The Natural Radiation Environment, Symposium Proceedings, Houston, Texas, April 10–13, 1963, John Adams, A. S. and Lowder, Wayne M. (eds.), pp. 161–190, University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1964).Google Scholar
12. Tanner, A. B., Radon Migration in the Ground: A Supplementary Review; in The Natural Radiation Environment III, Symposium Proceedings, Houston, Texas, April 23–28, 1978, Gesell, T. F. and Lowder, W. M. (eds.) pp. 5–56, Technical Information Center/U.S. DOE Conf.780422(1980).Google Scholar
13. Phillips, M. W., Kilinc, A. I., Chyi, K. L., Shade, J. W. and Wegert, E. L.; Durability of Simulated Supercalcine and Ceramics at Geologic Storage Conditions, Final Report to USNRC, NUREG/CR-2418, USNRC, Washington, DC (1981).Google Scholar