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Yucca Mountain’s Unsaturated Zone

Yucca Mountain’s Unsaturated Zone. Nick Dosen. Purpose and Methodology. Determine whether Yucca Mountain Unsaturated Zone conditions are suitable for a high level nuclear waste repository Will look at: UZ models and features Infiltration projections. UZ Conceptual Map. Welded Tuffs.

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Yucca Mountain’s Unsaturated Zone

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  1. Yucca Mountain’s Unsaturated Zone Nick Dosen

  2. Purpose and Methodology • Determine whether Yucca Mountain Unsaturated Zone conditions are suitable for a high level nuclear waste repository • Will look at: • UZ models and features • Infiltration projections

  3. UZ Conceptual Map

  4. Welded Tuffs • Include the Tiva Canyon and the Topopah Springs welded units • High pressures • Fracture flow predominance • Possibility of matrix flow • Fault flow

  5. Nonwelded Tuffs • Include the Paintbrush and the Calico Hills nonwelded units • Greater porosity • Matrix flow • Lateral flow • Fault flow

  6. Chloride Model • Parameters acquired from pore water measurements • Incorporates the effects of numerous factors • Results • PTn lateral flow • Slower Gw flow

  7. Perched Water

  8. Perched Water • Causes: • Contrast in permeability between layers • Blocks to lateral fault flow • Significance • Directly related to radionuclide transport to water table • Future climate projections and infiltration rates

  9. Infiltration • High impact on UZ flow • Directly caused by precipitation • ppt estimates at about 125 mm/yr • Infiltration rate estimates range from 5-15 mm/yr • Temperatures are expected to rise as climate changes • More ppt = more infiltrating water

  10. Infiltration

  11. Conclusions • Too much uncertainty to tell • Would require more accurate models of the various flow components (lateral flow, infiltration, etc.)

  12. References • Faybishenko, Boris. “Climatic Forecasting of Net Infiltration at Yucca Mountain Using Analogue Meteorological Data.” Vadose Zone Journal 6.1 (2007): 77-92. • Hinds, J. Jennifer, SheminGe, and Chris J. Fridrich. “Numerical Modeling of Perched Water Under Yucca Mountain, Nevada.” Ground Water 37.4 (1999): 498-504. • Liu, H.H., G.S. Bodvarsson, and G. Zhang. “Scale dependency of the effective matrix diffusion coefficient.” Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2003): LBNL Paper LBNL-52824. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4cs4n5w8 • Liu, Jianchun, Eric L. Sonnenthal, and G.S. Bodvarsson. “Calibration of Yucca Mountain unsaturated zone flow and transport model using porewater chloride data.” Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2002): LBNL Paper LBNL-49871. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1vb7n0t6 • Pan, Lehua, Yu-Shu Wu, and Keni Zhang. “A Modeling Study of Flow Diversion and Focusing in Unsaturated Fractured Rocks.” Vadose Zone Journal 3. (2004): 233-246 • Wu, Yu-Shu, Lu Guoping, Keni Zhang, and G.S. Bodvarsson. “A Mountain-Scale Model for Characterizing Unsaturated Flow and Transport in Fractured Tuffs of Yucca Mountain.” Vadose Zone Journal 3. (2004): 796-805 • Wu, Yu-Shu, Lu Guoping, Keni Zhang, Lehu Pan, and G.S. Bodvarsson. “Analyzing unsaturated flow patterns in fractured rock using an integrated modeling approach.” Hydrogeology Journal 15.3 (2007): 553-572. • Xaltu, Bill. “Scholastic Study of Solute Transport in a Nonstationary Medium.” Ground Water 44.2 (2006): 222-223. • Yang, I.C., Gordon W. Rattray, and Pei Yu. “Interpretation of Chemical and Isotopic Data from Boreholes in the Unsaturated Zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.” United States Geological Survey (1996). • Zhang, Keni, Yu-Shu Wu, and James E. Houseworth. “Sensitivity Analysis of Hydrological parameters in Modeling Flow and Transport in the Unsaturated Zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA.” Hydrogeology Journal 14.8 (2006): 1599-1619.

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