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The Yucca Mountain Project
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In its geologic repository program for the United States, the Department of Energy (DOE) is close to completing the license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (scheduled for June 2008) for repository construction at Yucca Mountain. The safe performance of a high-level nuclear waste repository hinges on the multiple-barrier concept—namely, that the natural system and the engineered system would each contribute significantly to preventing radionuclides from leaving the repository and entering the biosphere. The proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, consisting primarily of fractured volcanic tuffs that vary in degree of welding, will be located about 350 m below ground surface, within a thick unsaturated zone (UZ) above the water table.
The Berkeley Lab is responsible for the site characterization studies aimed at understanding the barrier function of the UZ. Over the last decade, studies by Berkeley scientists have consisted of hydrological (seepage and transport) and thermal-hydrological-chemical coupled-process testing and modeling at Yucca Mountain’s Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF). The ESF consists of an 8 km long, 8 m diameter underground tunnel with niches and alcoves for testing; and a smaller tunnel, the 2.7 km long, 5 m diameter Enhanced Characterization Repository Block (ECRB). The testing and modeling program addresses some of the most compelling issues affecting the performance of the potential repository, including:
- How much water percolates through the UZ to the repository at Yucca Mountain?
- What fraction of the water flows in fractures and what fraction flows through the rock matrix blocks?
- What do mineralogical and geochemical data reveal about the past and current water distribution?
- How much of this water will seep into the emplacement drifts (tunnels)?
- How will the radionuclide migration from the repository to the water table be retarded?
- How will coupled TH (thermal-hydrological), THC (thermal-hydrological-chemical), and THM (thermal-hydrological-mechanical) processes affect flow and transport?
For more information, please contact:
Jens
Birkholzer
Head, Nuclear Waste Program
Earth Sciences Division
Phone: 510-486-7134
Fax: 510-486-5686
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