Summary of a Preliminary US Defense Waste Repository (DWR) Concept for a Salt Host Media.
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Hadgu, Teklu.
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This report describes the use of cloud computing services for running complex public domain performance assessment problems. The work consisted of two phases: Phase 1 was to demonstrate complex codes, on several differently configured servers, could run and compute trivial small scale problems in a commercial cloud infrastructure. Phase 2 focused on proving non-trivial large scale problems could be computed in the commercial cloud environment. The cloud computing effort was successfully applied using codes of interest to the geohydrology and nuclear waste disposal modeling community.
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As the title suggests, this report provides a summary of the status and progress for the Preliminary Design Concepts Work Package. Described herein are design concepts and thermal analysis for crystalline and salt host media. The report concludes that thermal management of defense waste, including the relatively small subset of high thermal output waste packages, is readily achievable. Another important conclusion pertains to engineering feasibility, and design concepts presented herein are based upon established and existing elements and/or designs. The multipack configuration options for the crystalline host media pose the greatest engineering challenges, as these designs involve large, heavy waste packages that pose specific challenges with respect to handling and emplacement. Defense-related Spent Nuclear Fuel (DSNF) presents issues for post-closure criticality control, and a key recommendation made herein relates to the need for special packaging design that includes neutron-absorbing material for the DSNF. Lastly, this report finds that the preliminary design options discussed are tenable for operational and post-closure safety, owing to the fact that these concepts have been derived from other published and well-studied repository designs.
The objective of the Crystalline Disposal R&D Work Package is to advance our understanding of long-term disposal of used fuel in crystalline rocks and to develop necessary experimental and computational capabilities to evaluate various disposal concepts in such media. FY16 continued to be a successful year in both experimental and modeling arenas in evaluation of used fuel disposal in crystalline rocks. The work covers a wide range of research topics identified in the R&D plan.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, Office of Fuel Cycle Technology established the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) in fiscal year 2010 (FY10) to conduct the research and development (R&D) activities related to storage, transportation and disposal of used nuclear fuel and high level nuclear waste. The objective of the Crystalline Disposal R&D Work Package is to advance our understanding of long-term disposal of used fuel in crystalline rocks and to develop necessary experimental and computational capabilities to evaluate various disposal concepts in such media.
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) continued evaluation of total system performance assessment (TSPA) computing systems for the previously considered Yucca Mountain Project (YMP). This was done to maintain the operational readiness of the computing infrastructure (computer hardware and software) and knowledge capability for total system performance assessment (TSPA) type analysis, as directed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), DOE 2010. This work is a continuation of the ongoing readiness evaluation reported in Lee and Hadgu (2014) and Hadgu et al. (2015). The TSPA computing hardware (CL2014) and storage system described in Hadgu et al. (2015) were used for the current analysis. One floating license of GoldSim with Versions 9.60.300, 10.5 and 11.1.6 was installed on the cluster head node, and its distributed processing capability was mapped on the cluster processors. Other supporting software were tested and installed to support the TSPA-type analysis on the server cluster. The current tasks included verification of the TSPA-LA uncertainty and sensitivity analyses, and preliminary upgrade of the TSPA-LA from Version 9.60.300 to the latest version 11.1. All the TSPA-LA uncertainty and sensitivity analyses modeling cases were successfully tested and verified for the model reproducibility on the upgraded 2014 server cluster (CL2014). The uncertainty and sensitivity analyses used TSPA-LA modeling cases output generated in FY15 based on GoldSim Version 9.60.300 documented in Hadgu et al. (2015). The model upgrade task successfully converted the Nominal Modeling case to GoldSim Version 11.1. Upgrade of the remaining of the modeling cases and distributed processing tasks will continue. The 2014 server cluster and supporting software systems are fully operational to support TSPA-LA type analysis.
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The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) performed an assessment of disposal options that recommended the consideration of deep borehole disposal of smaller DOE-managed waste forms, such as cesium (Cs) and strontium (Sr) capsules. To assess the feasibility of the deep borehole disposal concept for Cs/Sr capsules, safety case considerations are identified and examined. A safety case includes quantitative (e.g., safety assessments) and qualitative information related to both pre-closure (operational) and post-closure safety. For deep borehole disposal of Cs/Sr capsules, pre-closure safety considers potential hazards associated with waste package surface handling and downhole emplacement activities; post-closure safety considers scenarios for long-term radionuclide transport to the biosphere. A preliminary list of qualitative indicators of pre-closure and post-closure safety is presented. Research, development, and demonstration (RD and D) activities that can provide a quantitative basis for these indicators are discussed. In particular, DOE-NE has initiated a Deep Borehole Field Test, using surrogate test packages without radioactive waste, to further investigate various aspects of site characterization, deep drilling, and waste package handling and emplacement that would be needed for a full-scale disposal facility for Cs/Sr capsules or other DOE-managed waste forms. Finally, preliminary results from pre-closure hazard analyses and post-closure performance assessment (PA) calculations are presented as examples of supporting information for the quantitative safety case considerations. These preliminary results suggest that a favorable safety case can be developed for deep borehole disposal of Cs/Sr capsules. (authors)
Deep borehole disposal is one of the potential options for safely isolating high-level radioactive waste. It is expected that existing drilling technology can provide reliable and cost-effective construction of suitable deep boreholes. In addition, favorable disposal conditions such as low permeability host rock, high salinity, and geochemically reducing conditions, exist at depth in many locations. Coupled thermal-hydrologic processes induced by heat from the radioactive waste may impact fluid flow and the associated migration of radionuclides. This work looks at those processes as was also done with recent studies. Simulations of thermal-hydrology for the emplacement of cesium and strontium capsules in a deep borehole are presented. The simulations looked at disposal options such as different disposal configurations and aging of waste to reduce thermal effects. The simulations studied temperature and fluid flux in the vicinity of the borehole. Simulation results include temperature and vertical flux profiles around the borehole at selected depths. Of particular importance are peak temperatures, and fluxes above the disposal zone. (authors)
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