Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:43:51.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Preliminary Performance Assessment for Deep Borehole Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2012

Peter N. Swift ,
Bill W. Arnold ,
Patrick V. Brady ,
Geoff Freeze ,
Teklu Hadgu  and
Joon H. Lee
Peter N. Swift
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87185
Bill W. Arnold
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87185
Patrick V. Brady
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87185
Geoff Freeze
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87185
Teklu Hadgu
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87185
Joon H. Lee
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87185
Get access

Abstract

Deep boreholes have been proposed for many decades as an option for permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Disposal concepts are straightforward, and generally call for drilling boreholes to a depth of four to five kilometers (or more) into crystalline basement rocks. Waste is placed in the lower portion of the hole, and the upper several kilometers of the hole are sealed to provide effective isolation from the biosphere. The potential for excellent long-term performance has been recognized in many previous studies. This paper reports updated results of what is believed to be the first quantitative analysis of releases from a hypothetical disposal borehole repository using the same performance assessment methodology applied to mined geologic repositories for high-level radioactive waste. Analyses begin with a preliminary consideration of a comprehensive list of potentially relevant features, events, and processes (FEPs) and the identification of those FEPs that appear to be most likely to affect long-term performance in deep boreholes. The release pathway selected for preliminary performance assessment modeling is thermally-driven flow and radionuclide transport upwards from the emplacement zone through the borehole seals or the surrounding annulus of disturbed rock. Estimated radionuclide releases from deep borehole disposal of spent nuclear fuel, and the annual radiation doses to hypothetical future humans associated with those releases, are extremely small, indicating that deep boreholes may be a viable alternative to mined repositories for disposal of both high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1475: Symposium NW – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXXV , 2012 , imrc11-1475-nw35-il08
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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. National Academy of Sciences, The Disposal of Radioactive Waste on Land, National Academy Press (1957).Google Scholar
2. O’Brien, M.T., Cohen, L.H., Narasimhan, T.N., Simkin, T.L., Wollenberg, H.A., Brace, W.F., Green, S., and Pratt, H.P., The Very Deep Hole Concept: Evaluation of an Alternative for Nuclear Waste Disposal, LBL-7089, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (1979).10.2172/5993772Google Scholar
3. Woodward-Clyde Consultants. Very Deep Hole Systems Engineering Studies. ONWI, Columbus, OH, (1983).Google Scholar
4. Juhlin, C. and Sandstedt, H., Storage of Nuclear Waste in Very Deep Boreholes: Feasibility Study and Assessment of Economic Potential. Part I: Geological Considerations. Part II: Overall Facility Plan and Cost Analysis, Svensk Karnbranslehantering AB (SKB) (1989).Google Scholar
5. Halsey, W. G., Danker, W., and Morley, R.. Disposition of Excess Fissile Materials in Deep Boreholes, UCRL-JC-120053, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (1995).Google Scholar
6. Heiken, G., Woldegabriel, G., Morley, R., Plannerer, H., and Rowley, J., Disposition of Excess Weapon Plutonium in Deep Boreholes – Site Selection Handbook, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (1996).10.2172/376416Google Scholar
7. Gibb, F.G.F., “High-temperature, very deep, geological disposal: a safer alternative for high-level radioactive waste?” Waste Management v. 19, pp. 207–211 (1999)10.1016/S0956-053X(99)00050-1Google Scholar
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Future of Nuclear Power: An Interdisciplinary MIT Study (2003).Google Scholar
9. Nirex, , A Review of the Deep Borehole Disposal Concept, Report N/108, United Kingdom Nirex Limited, (2004).Google Scholar
10. Åhäll, K.-I., Final Deposition of High-Level Nuclear Waste in Very Deep Boreholes: An Evaluation Based on Recent Research of Bedrock Conditions at Great Depths, Miljöorganisationernas kärnavfalls-granskning (MKG), MKG Report 2, Göteborg, Sweden (2006)Google Scholar
11. Gibb, F.G.F., McTaggart, N. A., et al. . “ High-density support matrices: Key to the deep borehole disposal of spent nuclear fuel ”, Journal of Nuclear Materials , v. 374, pp. 370–377 (2008).10.1016/j.jnucmat.2007.08.017Google Scholar
12. Brady, P.V., Arnold, B.W., Freeze, G.A., Swift, P.N., Bauer, S.J., Kanney, J.L., Rechard, R.P., and Stein, J.S., Deep Borehole Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste, SAND2009-4401, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (2009).Google Scholar
13. Gibbs, J. S., Buongiorno, J., and Driscoll, M.J., “A Multibranch Borehole Approach to HLW Disposal,” proceedings of the 2011 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference, April 10-14, 2011, Albuquerque, NM (2011).Google Scholar
14. Beswick, J., Status of Technology for Deep Borehole Disposal, EPS International, Contract No. NP 01185, prepared for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Radioactive Waste Directorate, Oxon, UK (2008).Google Scholar
15. Swift, P.N., “Safety assessment for deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste in geological repository systems”, Chapter 15 in Ahn, J. and Apted, M. J., eds., Geological Repository Systems for Safe Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuels and Radioactive Wastes, Woodhead Publishing Limited, pp 497–521 (2010).Google Scholar
16. Clayton, D., Freeze, G., Hadgu, T., Hardin, E., Lee, J., Prouty, J., Rogers, R., Nutt, W.M., Birkholzer, J., Liu, H.H., Zheng, L., Chu, S., Generic Disposal System Modeling—Fiscal Year 2011 Progress Report, US Department of Energy Used Fuel Disposition FCRD-USED-2011-000184, SAND2011-5828P, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (2011).Google Scholar
17. EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 191, Environmental Radiation Standards for Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes.Google Scholar
18. NRC (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission), 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 60: Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in Geologic Repositories .Google Scholar
19. NRC (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission), 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 63: Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in a Geologic Repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada .Google Scholar
20. EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 197, Public Health and Environmental Radiation Standards for Yucca Mountain, NV Google Scholar
21. DIANE Publishing Company, Spent Nuclear Fuel Discharges from U.S. Reactors 1993 (1995).Google Scholar
22. US DOE (United States Department of Energy), Yucca Mountain Repository License Application, DOE/RW-0573, Rev 1 (2008).Google Scholar
23. Arnold, B.W., Brady, P.V., Bauer, S.J., Herrick, C., Pye, S., and Finger, J., Reference Design and Operations for Deep Borehole Disposal of High –Level Radioactive Waste, in preparation, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.Google Scholar
24. SNL (Sandia National Laboratories), Features, Events, and Processes for the Total System Performance Assessment: Methods, ANL-WIS-MD-000026 REV 00, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Las Vegas, Nevada (2008).Google Scholar
25. SNL (Sandia National Laboratories), Features, Events, and Processes for the Total System Performance Assessment: Analyses, ANL-WIS-MD-000027 REV 00, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Las Vegas, Nevada (2008).Google Scholar
26. Arnold, B.W., Hadgu, T., Clayton, D., and Herrick, C., “Thermal-Hydrologic-Chemical-Mechanical Modeling of Deep Borehole Disposal”, proceedings of the 2011 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference, April 10-14, Albuquerque, NM (2011).Google Scholar
27. Zyvoloski, G.A., Robinson, B.A., Dash, Z.V., and Trease, L.L., Summary of the models and methods for the FEHM application, A Finite-Element Heat- and Mass-Transfer Code. LA-13307-MS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (1997).10.2172/565545Google Scholar
28. GoldSim Technology Group, GoldSim Probabilistic Simulation Environment User’s Guide, Version 10.1 (2010).Google Scholar
29. International Atomic Energy Agency. Reference Biospheres for Solid Radioactive Waste Disposal. IAEA-BIOMASS-6, Vienna, Austria (2003).Google Scholar
30. Swift, P.N., Arnold, B.W., Brady, P.V., Freeze, G., Hadgu, T., Lee, J.H., and Wang, Y., “Preliminary Performance Assessment for Deep Borehole Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste,” proceedings of the 2011 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference, April 10-14, Albuquerque, NM (2011).Google Scholar