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PubMed2002

Characterization of flow and transport processes within the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, under current and future climates.

This paper presents a large-scale modeling study characterizing fluid flow and tracer transport in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a potential repository site for storing high-level radioactive waste. The study has been conducted using a three-dimensional numerical model, which incorporates a wide variety of field data and takes into account the coupled processes of flow and transport in the highly heterogeneous, unsaturated fractured porous rock. The modeling approach is based on a dual-continuum formulation of coupled multiphase fluid and tracer transport through fractured porous rock. Various scenarios of current and future climate conditions and their effects on the unsaturated zone are evaluated to aid in the assessment of the proposed repository's system performance using different conceptual models. These models are calibrated against field-measured data. Model-predicted flow and transport processes under current and future climates are discussed.

Climate↗

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Analysis of thermohydrologic behavior for above-boiling and below-boiling thermal-operating modes for a repository at Yucca Mountain.

We report results from a multi-scale thermohydrologic modeling study for two alternative thermal-operating modes for the potential repository system recently analyzed by the Yucca Mountain Project. These include a Higher-Temperature Operating Mode (HTOM), which results in a localized boiling zone around each emplacement drift, and a Lower-Temperature Operating Mode (LTOM), which always maintains sub-boiling temperatures throughout the repository. The HTOM places all waste packages nearly end to end, making the lineal power density greater than in the LTOM. The lower lineal power density in the LTOM was achieved by placing some waste packages farther apart (which results in a larger repository footprint), and through an increased reliance on pre-closure ventilation to remove the waste-package-generated heat. We focus on temperature T and relative humidity RH at the waste-package and drift-wall surfaces, and on in-drift evaporation. In general, HTOM temperatures are greater than corresponding LTOM temperatures, exhibit similar spatial variability and have a stronger dependence on infiltration flux. The duration of RH reduction on waste packages is similar for the LTOM and HTOM. A major difference between the LTOM and HTOM is the lower waste-package temperature at any given value of waste-package RH for the LTOM. Waste-package temperatures in the LTOM, by design, remain below approximately 85 degrees C; the absence of RH reduction arising from host-rock dryout causes waste-package RH to remain above about 40%. The HTOM waste packages experience higher temperatures and correspondingly lower RH conditions as a result of RH reduction arising from host-rock dryout. For most of the repository area, the HTOM delays the potential onset of gravity-driven seepage compared to the LTOM (as indicated by the duration of boiling at the drift wall). Boiling conditions in the HTOM also delays the onset of capillary-driven seepage into the granular invert, causing the HTOM to have less evaporation in the invert during the first 800-1500 years than the LTOM; subsequent evaporation rates are higher in the HTOM, due to the higher power density.

Forecasting↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Validation of the multiscale thermohydrologic model used for analysis of a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain.

Performance assessment and design evaluation of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain are facilitated by a thermohydrologic modeling tool that simultaneously accounts for processes occurring at a scale of a few tens of centimeters around individual waste packages and emplacement drifts, and accounts for processes at the multi-kilometer scale of the mountain. The most straightforward approach is to account for the 3-D drift- and mountain-scale dimensionality all within a single monolithic thermohydrologic model. This approach is too computationally expensive to be a viable simulation tool capable of addressing all waste-package locations in the repository. The Multiscale Thermohydrologic Model (MSTHM) is a computationally efficient alternative to addressing these modeling issues. In this paper, we describe the principal calculation stages to predict temperature, relative humidity, and liquid-saturation, as well as other thermohydrologic variables, in the drifts and in the host rock. Using a three-drift repository example (which is a scaled-down version of the proposed repository), we demonstrate the validity of the MSTHM approach against a nested monolithic thermohydrologic model.

Forecasting↗

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Radionuclide transport simulation and uncertainty analyses with the saturated-zone site-scale model at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Evaluation of radionuclide transport in the saturated zone (SZ) to the accessible environment is an important component of performance assessment for the proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Simulations of radionuclide migration in the SZ have been performed using the calibrated three-dimensional (3-D) SZ site-scale flow and transport model. An innovative particle-tracking method was used to simulate transport that includes the processes of advection, dispersion, matrix diffusion, and sorption. The uncertainties in groundwater flow and radionuclide transport were quantitatively evaluated to develop uncertainty distributions for key model parameters, and multiple realizations of the SZ system were simulated using the SZ site-scale model. The results of multiple realizations of radionuclide transport indicate significant aggregate uncertainty in transport times through the SZ. The simulated radionuclide mass breakthrough curves in the SZ have been coupled with other components of the repository system in Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA) analyses and constitute the means by which uncertainty in the SZ is incorporated into regulatory analyses. Regression analysis has been used to determine the sensitivity of radionuclide transport simulation results to the uncertainty of individual model input parameters. Results of the sensitivity analysis indicate that median radionuclide transport times were dominantly controlled by uncertainty in the specific discharge in the SZ, with sorption and retardation in the alluvium playing important roles for some radionuclides.

Forecasting↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Chemical analyses of pore water from boreholes USW SD-6 and USW WT-24, Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Analyses of pore water extracted from cores of boreholes USW SD-6 in the central part and USW WT-24 in the northern part of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, show significant vertical and lateral variations in dissolved-ion concentrations. Analyses of samples of only a few milliliters of pore water extracted by uniaxial or triaxial compression and by ultracentrifugation methods from adjacent core samples are generally in agreement, within the analytical error of 10% to 15%. However, the values of silica for water obtained by ultracentrifugation are consistently lower than values for water obtained by compression. The larger concentrations probably are due to localized pressure solution of silicate minerals during compression. The shallower water from core in borehole USW SD-6 was extracted from nonwelded units collectively referred to as the Paintbrush Tuff nonwelded (PTn). The deeper water was from core in both boreholes USW SD-6 and USW WT-24 in the nonwelded units referred to as the Calico Hills nonwelded (CHn). Significant differences in mean dissolved-ion concentrations in pore water between the PTn and CHn are (1) decreases in Ca, Mg, SO(4), and NO(3) and (2) increases in HCO(3) and (Na+K)/(Ca+Mg) ratios. The decrease in NO(3) and the increase in HCO(3) could be the result of denitrification through the oxidation of organic matter. The decrease in Ca and associated increase in (Na+K)/(Ca+Mg) is the result of ion exchange with zeolites in the CHn in borehole USW WT-24. This effect is not nearly as pronounced in borehole USW SD-6, probably reflecting a smaller amount of zeolitization of the CHn in USW SD-6. Geochemical calculations using the PHREEQC code indicate that the pore water from both boreholes USW SD-6 and USW WT-24 is uniformly undersaturated in anhydrite, gypsum, and amorphous silica, but supersaturated in quartz and chalcedony. The saturation of calcite, aragonite, sepiolite, and dolomite is more variable from sample to sample.

Environmental Monitoring↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evolution of the unsaturated zone testing at Yucca Mountain.

The evaluation of the Yucca Mountain site has evolved from intensive surface-based investigations in the early 1980s to current focus on testing in underground drifts. Different periods of site characterization activities and prominent issues concerning the unsaturated zone (UZ) are summarized. Data collection activities have evolved from mapping of faults and fractures to estimation of percolation through tuff layers, and to quantification of seepage into drifts. Evaluation of discrete flow paths in drifts has led to fracture-matrix interaction and matrix diffusion tests over different scales. The effects of tuff interfaces and local faults are evaluated in fractured-welded and porous-nonwelded units. Mobilization of matrix water and redistribution of moisture are measured in thermal tests. Lessons learned from underground tests are used to focus on processes needed for additional quantification. Migration through the drift shadow zone and liquid flow through faults are two important issues that have evolved from current knowledge.

Environmental Monitoring↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A geostatistical modeling study of the effect of heterogeneity on radionuclide transport in the unsaturated zone, Yucca Mountain.

Retardation of certain radionuclides due to sorption to zeolitic minerals is considered one of the major barriers to contaminant transport in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain. However, zeolitically altered areas are lower in permeability than unaltered regions, which raises the possibility that contaminants might bypass the sorptive zeolites. The relationship between hydrologic and chemical properties must be understood to predict the transport of radionuclides through zeolitically altered areas. In this study, we incorporate mineralogical information into an unsaturated zone transport model using geostatistical techniques to correlate zeolitic abundance to hydrologic and chemical properties. Geostatistical methods are used to develop variograms, kriging maps, and conditional simulations of zeolitic abundance. We then investigate, using flow and transport modeling on a heterogeneous field, the relationship between percent zeolitic alteration, permeability changes due to alteration, sorption due to alteration, and their overall effect on radionuclide transport. We compare these geostatistical simulations to a simplified threshold method in which each spatial location in the model is assigned either zeolitic or vitric properties based on the zeolitic abundance at that location. A key conclusion is that retardation due to sorption predicted by using the continuous distribution is larger than the retardation predicted by the threshold method. The reason for larger retardation when using the continuous distribution is a small but significant sorption at locations with low zeolitic abundance. If, for practical reasons, models with homogeneous properties within each layer are used, we recommend setting nonzero K(d)s in the vitric tuffs to mimic the more rigorous continuous distribution simulations. Regions with high zeolitic abundance may not be as effective in retarding radionuclides such as Neptunium since these rocks are lower in permeability and contaminants can only enter these regions through molecular diffusion.

Adsorption↗

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Visualization experiment to investigate capillary barrier performance in the context of a Yucca Mountain emplacement drift.

The use of capillary barriers as engineered backfill systems to divert water away from radioactive waste potentially stored in a Yucca Mountain emplacement drift is investigated. We designed and conducted a flow visualization experiment to investigate capillary barrier performance in this context. A two-dimensional, thin slab, test system replicated the physical emplacement drift to one-quarter scale (1.4-m diameter) and included the simulated drift wall, waste canister, pedestal, capillary barrier backfill, and host-rock fracture system. Water was supplied at the top of the simulated drift and allowed to discharge by way of wicks located along the left wall of the cell (simulated fractures) or by a gravity drain at the bottom of the right side (simulated impermeable rock with floor drain). Photographs captured the migration of water and a blue dye tracer within the system, analytical balances measured the mass balance of water, while tensiometers measured the capillary pressure at numerous locations. Of particular concern to this test was the drainage of the capillary barrier, which terminates against the drift wall. We found that while the simulated fractures (left side) and drain (right side) each influenced the performance of the capillary barrier at early time, they had little differential affect at later times. Also of concern was the small disparity in capillary properties between the fine and coarse layer (limited by the need of a fine-grained material that would not filter into the coarse layer under dry conditions). While the capillary barrier was able to divert the majority of flow toward the edges of the system and away from the simulated waste canister, the barrier did not preclude flow in the coarse layer, which was noted to be visually wet next to the waste canister on day 92 and was continuing to take on water at termination on day 112.

Engineering↗

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Fault-matrix interactions in nonwelded tuff of the Paintbrush Group at Yucca Mountain.

To investigate the potential for fast flow through altered tuff of the nonwelded unit of the Paintbrush Group (PTn) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, we carried out in situ field experiments using water released directly into the matrix and along a minor subvertical normal fault at Alcove 4 in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF). During the experiments, changes in moisture content were monitored within the test bed, and a slot excavated below the test bed was visually inspected for seepage. Our field tests suggest that the dry porous PTn matrix is capable of attenuating episodic percolation fluxes in localized areas (such as around faults) where fast flow would be expected to dominate. Once wetted, the matrix is able to retain the moisture over a period of months. As saturation increases in the matrix, less water imbibes along the fault and more water travels farther along the fault. From this observation, we infer that a sequence of infiltration events separated by periods of up to a few months could convey water over increasing distances along the fault.

Filtration↗

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Estimation of past seepage volumes from calcite distribution in the Topopah Spring Tuff, Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Low-temperature calcite and opal record the past seepage of water into open fractures and lithophysal cavities in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site of a proposed high-level radioactive waste repository. Systematic measurements of calcite and opal coatings in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) tunnel at the proposed repository horizon are used to estimate the volume of calcite at each site of calcite and/or opal deposition. By estimating the volume of water required to precipitate the measured volumes of calcite in the unsaturated zone, seepage rates of 0.005 to 5 liters/year (l/year) are calculated at the median and 95th percentile of the measured volumes, respectively. These seepage rates are at the low end of the range of seepage rates from recent performance assessment (PA) calculations, confirming the conservative nature of the performance assessment. However, the distribution of the calcite and opal coatings indicate that a much larger fraction of the potential waste packages would be contacted by this seepage than is calculated in the performance assessment.

Calcium Carbonate↗

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Calibration of Yucca Mountain unsaturated zone flow and transport model using porewater chloride data.

In this study, porewater chloride data from Yucca Mountain, NV are analyzed and modeled by three-dimensional chemical transport simulation and analytical methods. The simulation modeling approach is based on a continuum formulation of coupled multiphase fluid flow and tracer transport processes through fractured porous rock using a dual-continuum concept. Infiltration rate calibrations were performed using the porewater chloride data. Model results of chloride distributions were improved in matching the observed data with the calibrated infiltration rates. Statistical analyses of the frequency distribution for overall percolation fluxes and chloride concentration in the unsaturated zone system demonstrate that the use of the calibrated infiltration rates had an insignificant effect on the distribution of simulated percolation fluxes but significantly changed the predicted distribution of simulated chloride concentrations. An analytical method was also applied to model transient chloride transport. The method was verified by three-dimensional simulation results to be capable of capturing major chemical transient behavior and trends. Effects of lateral flow in the Paintbrush nonwelded unit on percolation fluxes and chloride distribution were studied by three-dimensional simulations with increased horizontal permeability. The combined results from these model calibrations furnish important information for the UZ model studies, contributing to performance assessment of the potential repository.

Calibration↗

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Conceptual evaluation of the potential role of fractures in unsaturated processes at Yucca Mountain.

A wide array of field observations, in situ testing, and rock and water sampling (and subsequent analyses) within the unsaturated zone (UZ) of Yucca Mountain demonstrate the importance of fractures to flow and transport in the welded tuffs. The abundance of fractures and the spatial variability in their hydraulic properties, along with the heterogeneity within lithologic formations, make evaluation of unsaturated processes occurring within the potential repository horizon complex. Fracture mapping and field testing show that fractures are well connected, yet considerable variation is seen within and between units comprising the potential repository horizon with regard to fracture trace length, spacing, permeability, and capillarity. These variations have important implications for the distribution and movement of water and solutes through the unsaturated zone. Numerical models designed to assess such phenomena as unsaturated flow, transport, and coupled thermal-hydrological processes each require their own conceptual model for fracture networks, in order to identify the subset of all fractures that is relevant to the particular study. We evaluate several process-dependent conceptual models for fractures and identify the relevant fracture subsets related to these processes.

Forecasting↗

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Chlorine-36 data at Yucca Mountain: statistical tests of conceptual models for unsaturated-zone flow.

An extensive set of chlorine-36 (36Cl) data has been collected in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF), an 8-km-long tunnel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the purpose of developing and testing conceptual models of flow and transport in the unsaturated zone (UZ) at this site. At several locations, the measured values of 36Cl/Cl ratios for salts leached from rock samples are high enough to provide strong evidence that at least a small component of bomb-pulse 36Cl, fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear devices in the 1950s and 1960s, was measured, implying that some fraction of the water traveled from the ground surface through 200-300 m of unsaturated rock to the level of the ESF during the last 50 years. These data are analyzed here using a formal statistical approach based on log-linear models to evaluate alternative conceptual models for the distribution of such fast flow paths. The most significant determinant of the presence of bomb-pulse 36Cl in a sample from the welded Topopah Spring unit (TSw) is the structural setting from which the sample was collected. Our analysis generally supports the conceptual model that a fault that cuts through the nonwelded Paintbrush tuff unit (PTn) that overlies the TSw is required in order for bomb-pulse 36Cl to be transmitted to the sample depth in less than 50 years. Away from PTn-cutting faults, the ages of water samples at the ESF appear to be a strong function of the thickness of the nonwelded tuff between the ground surface and the ESF, due to slow matrix flow in that unit.

Chlorine↗

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Development of discrete flow paths in unsaturated fractures at Yucca Mountain.

We have carried out numerical modeling studies to investigate the development of discrete-fracture flow paths and flow-focusing phenomena in the unsaturated rock of the potential repository horizon at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. These studies are based on two- and three-dimensional (2-D and 3-D) numerical models using site-specific parameters. The 2-D and 3-D models use high-resolution spatial discretization to explicitly include effects of discrete fractures with stochastically developed fracture permeabilities and a continuum approach. The permeability field is generated based on air permeability measurements at various scales. For most of the cases considered, uniform infiltration with different average rates (1-500 mm/year) is prescribed at the top of the model, while variability in outflow at the bottom of the model is used to evaluate the degree of flow focusing. In addition, scenarios involving nonuniform infiltration at the top boundary, different permeability correlation lengths and different flow-allocation schemes were analyzed. The modeling results obtained from all of the cases showed a remarkably similar flow-focusing pattern at the repository horizon. Furthermore, tracer transport simulation results also revealed additional features of focused flow and transport through the fracture network.

Filtration↗

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Thermally induced natural convection effects in Yucca Mountain drifts.

Thermally induced natural convection from the heat produced by emplaced waste packages is an important heat and mass transfer mechanism within the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) drifts. Various models for analyzing natural convection have been employed. The equivalent porous medium approach using Darcy's law has been used in many YMP applications. However, this approach has questionable fidelity, especially for turbulent flow conditions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which is based on the fundamental Navier-Stokes equations, is currently being evaluated as a technique to calculate thermally induced natural convection in YMP. Data-model comparisons for turbulent flow conditions show good agreement of CFD predictions with existing experiments including YMP-specific data.

Convection↗

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Fluid flow and reactive transport around potential nuclear waste emplacement tunnels at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

The evolution of fluid chemistry and mineral alteration around a potential waste emplacement tunnel (drift) is evaluated using numerical modeling. The model considers the flow of water, gas, and heat, plus reactions between minerals, CO(2) gas, and aqueous species, and porosity-permeability-capillary pressure coupling for a dual permeability (fractures and matrix) medium. Two possible operating temperature modes are investigated: a "high-temperature" case with temperatures exceeding the boiling point of water for several hundred years, and a "low-temperature" case with temperatures remaining below boiling for the entire life of the repository. In both cases, possible seepage waters are characterized by dilute to moderate salinities and mildly alkaline pH values. These trends in fluid composition and mineral alteration are controlled by various coupled mechanisms. For example, upon heating and boiling, CO(2) exsolution from pore waters raises pH and causes calcite precipitation. In condensation zones, this CO(2) redissolves, resulting in a decrease in pH that causes calcite dissolution and enhances feldspar alteration to clays. Heat also enhances dissolution of wall rock minerals leading to elevated silica concentrations. Amorphous silica precipitates through evaporative concentration caused by boiling in the high-temperature case, but does not precipitate in the low-temperature case. Some alteration of feldspars to clays and zeolites is predicted in the high-temperature case. In both cases, calcite precipitates when percolating waters are heated near the drift. The predicted porosity decrease around drifts in the high-temperature case (several percent of the fracture volume) is larger by at least one order of magnitude than in the low temperature case. Although there are important differences between the two investigated temperature modes in the predicted evolution of fluid compositions and mineral alteration around drifts, these differences are largely within to the model uncertainty and the variability of water compositions at Yucca Mountain.

Carbon Dioxide↗

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Analysis of thermal-hydrologic-mechanical behavior near an emplacement drift at Yucca Mountain.

A coupled thermal, hydrologic and mechanical (THM) analysis is conducted to evaluate the impact of coupled THM processes on the performance of a potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The analysis considers changes in rock mass porosity, permeability, and capillary pressure caused by rock deformations during drift excavation, as well as those caused by thermomechanically induced rock deformations after emplacement of the heat-generating waste. The analysis consists of a detailed calibration of coupled hydraulic-mechanical rock mass properties against field experiments, followed by a prediction of the coupled thermal, hydrologic, and mechanical behavior around a potential repository drift. For the particular problem studied and parameters used, the analysis indicates that the stress-induced permeability changes will be within one order of magnitude and that these permeability changes do not significantly impact the overall flow pattern around the repository drift.

Mechanics↗

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Uncertainties in coupled thermal-hydrological processes associated with the Drift Scale Test at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Understanding thermally driven coupled hydrological, mechanical, and chemical processes in unsaturated fractured tuff is essential for evaluating the performance of the potential radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The Drift Scale Test (DST), intended for acquiring such an understanding of these processes, has generated a huge volume of temperature and moisture redistribution data. Sophisticated thermal-hydrological (TH) conceptual models have yielded a good fit between simulation results and those measured data. However, some uncertainties in understanding the TH processes associated with the DST still exist. This paper evaluates these uncertainties and provides quantitative estimates of the range of these uncertainties. Of particular interest for the DST are the uncertainties resulting from the unmonitored loss of vapor through an open bulkhead of the test. There was concern that the outcome from the test might have been significantly altered by these losses. Using alternative conceptual models, we illustrate that predicted mean temperatures from the DST are within 1 degrees C of the measured mean temperatures through the first 2 years of heating. The simulated spatial and temporal evolution of drying and condensation fronts is found to be qualitatively consistent with measured saturation data. Energy and mass balance computation shows that no more than 13% of the input energy is lost because of vapor leaving the test domain through the bulkhead. The change in average saturation in fractures is also relatively small. For a hypothetical situation in which no vapor is allowed to exit through the bulkhead, the simulated average fracture saturation is not qualitatively different enough to be discerned by measured moisture redistribution data. This leads us to conclude that the DST, despite the uncertainties associated with open field testing, has provided an excellent understanding of the TH processes.

Forecasting↗