[en] Two complementary numerical models for analyzing high-level nuclear waste emplacement at Yucca Mountain have been developed. A vertical cross-sectional (X-Z) model permits a realistic representation of hydrogeologic features, such as alternating tilting layers of welded and non-welded tuffs. fault zones, and surface topography. An alternative radially symmetric (R-Z) model is more limited in its ability to describe the hydrogeology of the site, but is better suited to model heat transfer in the host rock. Our models include a comprehensive description of multiphase fluid and heat flow processes, including strong enhancements of vapor diffusion from pore-level phase change effects. The neighborhood of the repository is found to partially dry out from the waste heat. A condensation halo of large liquid saturation forms around the drying zone, from which liquid flows downward at large rates. System response to infiltration from the surface and to ventilation of mined openings is evaluated. The impact of the various flow processes on the waste isolation capabilities of the site is discussed

[en] Medium heterogeneity can have significant impact on the behavior of solute transport. Tracer breakthrough curves from transport in a heterogeneous medium are distinctly different from that in a homogeneous porous medium. Usually the shape of the breakthrough curves are highly non-symmetrical with a fast rise at early times and very long tail at late times, and often, they consist of multiple peaks. Moreover, unlike transport in a homogeneous medium where the same transport parameters describe the entire medium, transport through heterogeneous media gives rise to breakthrough curves which have strong spatial dependence. These inherent characteristics of transport in heterogeneous medium present special challenge to the performance assessment of a potential high level nuclear waste repository with respect to the possible release of radio nuclides to the accessible environment. Since an inherently desirable site characteristic for a waste repository is that flow and transport should be slow, then transport measurements in site characterization efforts will necessarily be spatially small and temporally short compare to the scales which are of relevance to performance assessment predictions. In this paper we discuss the role of medium heterogeneity in site characterization and performance assessment. Our discussion will be based on a specific example of a 3D heterogeneous stochastic model of a site generally similar to, the Aespoe Island, the site of the Hard Rock Laboratory in Southern Sweden. For our study, alternative 3D stochastic fields of hydraulic conductivities conditioned on ''point'' measurements shall be generated. Results of stochastic flow and transport simulations would be used to address the issues of (1) the relationship of tracer breakthrough with the structure of heterogeneity, and (2) the inference from small scale testing results to large scale and long term predictions

[en] A numerical simulation of coupled multiphase fluid flow, heat transfer, and mechanical deformation was carried out to study coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical (THM) processes at the Yucca Mountain Drift Scale Test (DST) and for validation of a coupled THM numerical simulator. The ability of the numerical simulator to model relevant coupled THM processes at the DST was evaluated by comparison of numerical results to in situ measurements of temperature, water saturation, displacement, and fracture permeability. Of particular relevance for coupled THM processes are thermally induced rock-mass stress and deformations, with associated changes in fracture aperture and fractured rock permeability. Thermally induced rock-mass deformation and accompanying changes in fracture permeability were reasonably well predicted using a continuum elastic model, although some individual measurements of displacement and permeability indicate inelastic mechanical responses. It is concluded that fracture closure/opening caused by a change in thermally induced normal stress across fractures is an important mechanism for changes in intrinsic fracture permeability at the DST, whereas fracture shear dilation appears to be less significant. Observed and predicted maximum permeability changes at the DST are within one order of magnitude. These data are important for bounding model predictions of potential changes in rock-mass permeability at a future repository in Yucca Mountain

No abstract available

[en] An important issue for the performance of underground nuclear waste repositories is the rate of seepage into the waste emplacement drifts. A prediction of this rate is particularly complicated for the potential repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, because it is located in thick, unsaturated, fractured tuff formations. Underground opening in unsaturated media might act as capillary barriers, diverting water around them. In the present work, they study the potential rate of seepage into drifts as a function of the percolation flux at Yucca Mountain, based on a stochastic model of the fractured rock mass in the drift vicinity. A variety of flow scenarios are considered, assuming present-day and possible future climate conditions. They show that the heterogeneity in the flow domain is a key factor controlling seepage rates, since it causes channelized flow and local ponding in the unsaturated flow field

[en] Several factors will affect Thermal-Hydrological (TH) response of the Unsaturated Zone (UZ) to thermal load at the potential repository. These factors include small and large-scale heterogeneity, the thermal load within the repository drifts and presence of lithophysal cavities. The objective of this study is to quantify these effects. Numerical modeling was used to investigate the effects of heat on UZ flow, temperature and liquid saturation on two spatial scales, for a range of potential repository operating modes. The TH simulations were conducted on two dual-permeability numerical grids. The first grid is a refined North-South Mountain-scale 2D model with layer-wise constant fracture permeability. The second grid is a refined half-drift (1-m grid near drift) 2D model with several realizations of spatially variable fracture permeability in the Topopah Spring welded unit (TSw). In the TSw lithophysal units, the thermal capacity and thermal conductivity of the lithophysal units were scaled using the lithophysal porosity. The second model includes both small-scale (less than 1-meter correlation length) heterogeneity in the fracture permeability and discrete high permeability fractures. Monte Carlo methods were used to generate several realizations of spatially variable fracture permeability (up to 4 orders of magnitude) in the TSw, based on the measured distribution of fracture permeability within the exploration drifts. Above boiling and below boiling repository operating modes are investigated by varying the initial thermal load and the amount of heat removed by ventilation. The simulations of coupled heat and mass flow were conducted using TOUGH2 (EOS3 module) over a simulated period of 100,000 years

[en] We analyzed a data set of thermally induced changes in fractured rock permeability during a four-year heating (up to 200 C) and subsequent four-year cooling of a large volume, partially saturated and highly fractured volcanic tuff at the Yucca Mountain Drift Scale Test, in Nevada, USA. Permeability estimates were derived from about 700 pneumatic (air-injection) tests, taken periodically at 44 packed-off borehole intervals during the heating and cooling cycle from November 1997 through November 2005. We analyzed air-permeability data by numerical modeling of thermally induced stress and moisture movements and their impact on air permeability within the highly fractured rock. Our analysis shows that changes in air permeability during the initial four-year heating period, which were limited to about one order of magnitude, were caused by the combined effects of thermal-mechanically-induced stress on fracture aperture and thermal-hydrologically-induced changes in fracture moisture content. At the end of the subsequent four-year cooling period, air-permeability decreases (to as low as 0.2 of initial) and increases (to as high as 1.8 of initial) were observed. By comparison to the calculated thermo-hydro-elastic model results, we identified these remaining increases or decreases in air permeability as irreversible changes in intrinsic fracture permeability, consistent with either inelastic fracture shear dilation (where permeability increased) or inelastic fracture surface asperity shortening (where permeability decreased). In this paper, we discuss the possibility that such fracture asperity shortening and associated decrease in fracture permeability might be enhanced by dissolution of highly stressed surface asperities over years of elevated stress and temperature

[en] Two complementary numerical models for analyzing high-level nuclear waste emplacement at Yucca Mountain have been developed. A vertical cross-sectional (X-Z) model permits a realistic representation of hydrogeologic features, such as alternating tilting layers of welded and non-welded tuffs, fault zones, and surface topography. An alternative radially symmetric (R-Z) model is more limited in its ability to describe the hydrogeology of the site, but is better suited to model heat transfer in the host rock. Our models include a comprehensive description of multiphase fluid and heat flow processes, including strong enhancements of vapor diffusion from pore-level phase change effects. The neighborhood of the repository is found to partially dry out from the waste heat. A condensation halo of large liquid saturation forms around the drying zone, from which liquid flows downward at large rates. System response to infiltration from the surface and to ventilation of mined openings is evaluated. The impact of the various flow processes on the waste isolation capabilities of the site is discussed

[en] Repository performance models based on numerical simulation of fluid and heat flows have recently been developed by several different groups. Model conceptualizations generally focus on large-scale average behavior. This comparison finds that current performance assessment (PA) models use generally similar approximations and parameters. Certain differences exist in some performance-relevant parameters, especially absolute permeabilities, characteristic curves, and thermal conductivities. These reflect present uncertainties about the most appropriate parameters applicable to Yucca Mountain and must be resolved through future field observations and laboratory measurements. For a highly heterogeneous fractured-porous hydrogeologic system such as Yucca Mountain, water infiltration through the unsaturated zone is expected to be dominated by highly localized phenomena. These include fast channelized flow along preferential paths in fractures, and frequent local ponding. The extended dry repository concept proposed by the Livermore group is reviewed. Predictions of large-scale drying around the repository on the average for large thermal loads cannot be taken to indicate that waste packages will not be contacted by liquid water, and that aqueous-phase transport of contaminants is not possible. Specifically, the authors find that modest water infiltration, on the order of a few millimeters per year, would be sufficient to overwhelm the vaporization capacity of the repository heat and inundate the waste packages within a time frame of a few thousand years. A preliminary analysis indicates that channelized flow of water may persist over large vertical distances. The vaporization-condensation cycle has a capacity for generating huge amounts of ponded water. A small fraction of the total condensate, if ponded and then episodically released, would be sufficient to cause liquid phase to make contact with the waste packages

[en] Group 4 has identified, discussed, and ranked the priority for further study of technical issues in the modeling research area. After listing 42 issues from the members, the group collectively discussed, combined, and casted the issues into 17 questions which were then ranked by voting. The top 10 issues identified by the group are reported in this summary. Justification and possible approaches to study each issue were briefly addressed by the members before these technical questions were presented to the whole workshop. For each issue, the mean value and the standard deviation (as a measure of consensus) for the ranking votes are enclosed in parentheses following the title.Issues include: fracture-matrix interaction;boundary and initial conditions; unsaturated and fracture parameters; formation heterogeneity; numerical experiments; model complexity vs data availability; computational efficiency; couple processes; continuum mechanics and Darcy's law; coupled testing