Seismic modeling and analysis of the prototype heated nuclear waste storage tunnel, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Smith ◽  
Roel Snieder
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Seismic Modeling ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Modeling And Analysis ◽  
Waste Storage

NNWSI Performance Assessment Considerations

1983 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. D. Tyler ◽  
R. R. Peters ◽  
N. K. Hayden ◽  
J. K. Johnstone ◽  
S. Sinnock
Keyword(s):  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Assessment Task ◽  
Waste Storage ◽  
A Site

ABSTRACTThe Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) project includes a Performance Assessment task to evaluate the containment and isolation potential for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. This task includes calculations of the rates and concentrations at which radionuclides might be released and transported from the repository and will predict their consequences if they enter the human environment. Among the major tasks required for these calculations will be the development of models for water flow and nuclide transport under unsaturated conditions and in fractured hard rock. The program must also quantify the uncertainties associated with the results of the calculations. The performance assessment will provide evaluations needed for making major decisions as the U. S. Department of Energy seeks a site for a repository. An evaluation will be part of the environmental assessments prepared to accompany the potential nomination of the site. If the Yucca mountain site is selected for characterization and development as a repository, the assessments will be required for an environmental impact statement, a safety analysis report, and other documents.This program has been divided into five tasks. Collectively they will provide the performance assessments needed for the NNWSI Project.

Seismic modeling and analysis of a prototype heated nuclear waste storage tunnel, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Geophysics ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. T1-T8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Smith ◽  
Roel Snieder
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Seismic Velocity ◽  
Spectral Element ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
S Wave ◽  
Velocity Change ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Thermally Induced ◽  
Modeling And Analysis ◽  
Velocity Models

We have developed seismic velocity models for the heated rock surrounding a tunnel in Yucca Mountain tuff and compared the results with field data obtained at the Yucca Mountain drift scale test (DST) facility from 1998 to 2002. During that time, the tunnel was heated to replicate the effects of long-term storage of decaying nuclear waste and to study the effects of extreme temperatures on the surrounding rock and groundwater flow. Our velocity models are based on borehole temperature data, thermal models, and laboratory measurements on granite. Comparisons between field and synthetic seismograms show that superheating the rock around the tunnel causes thermally induced variations in P- and S-wave arrival-time separation. Barring out-of-plane reflections, 2D spectral element waveform modeling in the source plane consistently replicates seismic receiver waveforms and classic behavior of pulses reflected from cylinders. Our models constrain the in situ [Formula: see text] velocity/temperature derivative of the tuff to be approximately [Formula: see text] per [Formula: see text]. This velocity change is consistent with thermally induced wavespeed changes in dry rock samples and is lower than expected for water-to-steam conversion in saturated rock. We infer that velocity changes are controlled by thermal expansion and fracturing. Additionally, we have developed an improved method for monitoring tunnel conditions that uses waves diffracted around the tunnel in the region of changing velocity.

Nuclear Waste Storage at Yucca Mountain

Science ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 269 (5226) ◽  
pp. 906-907
Author(s):  
C. D. Bowman ◽  
F. Venneri
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Waste Storage

scholarly journals Preliminary Geochemical/Geophysical Model of Yucca Mountain

1987 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail A. Cederberg ◽  
L. Eric Greenwade
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Unknown Parameter ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Flow And Transport ◽  
Geophysical Model ◽  
Waste Storage ◽  
Data Aquisition ◽  
Parameter Values

AbstractAs part of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) Project, a comprehensive geochemical/geophysical model is being compiled. This model incorporates the current and relevant stratigraphic, petrologic, hydrogeologic, geochemical, and material data associated with a candidate repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. In this report the known repository data are compiled and unknown parameter values are estimated based on the available data. More data are needed before the geochemical/geophysical model of Yucca Mountain can be regarded as satisfactory and a suitable base for multidimensional predictive flow and transport simulations. Recommendations for future studies concerning site characterization and data aquisition are presented.

Yucca Mountain pro and con [nuclear waste storage]

IEEE Spectrum ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (10) ◽  
pp. 41-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.J. Garrick ◽  
V. Gilinsky
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage ◽  
Waste Storage
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