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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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We conduct coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical modeling of a KBS-3V repository design in crystalline rocks, using data and conditions from the Forsmark in Olkiluoto repository sites in Sweden and Finland. The study focuses on repository performance related to the impact of thermal and hydraulic evolution on the potential for thermal–mechanical damage to underground repository excavations. For the designs and conditions considered at the Forsmark and Olkiluoto repository sites, the simulations show a peak temperature well under the adopted performance target of a 100°C maximum temperature, whereas there is still a high potential for thermal–mechanical damage to the KBS-3V waste deposition holes. The thermal–mechanical damage is much more likely if rock permeability is so low that it delays saturation and swelling of bentonite-clay-based backfill beyond the time for the thermal–mechanical peak, which occurs 50 to 100 years after nuclear waste deposition. We also found that sidewalls of the KBS-3V emplacement tunnels are vulnerable to tensile fracturing due to the combined effect of thermal stressing and backfill swelling. The study highlights a strong interaction between bentonite-based backfill and host rock through capillary suction along with induced rock desaturation. A careful design and selection of the bentonite-clay-based backfill materials for KBS-3V tunnels and deposition holes can facilitate a timely saturation and backfill swelling that in turn can minimize thermal–mechanical damage.
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The paper aims to highlight recent developments at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK-CEN in experimental and numerical study of the coupled physical-chemical behaviour of concrete subject to chemical degradation. The discussion mainly focusses on three inter-linked research projects covering novel experimental methods to study the alteration of hydraulic and transport properties during carbonation and calcium leaching, a pore scale numerical model to capture microstructural changes due to the above degradation processes and a generic multiscale model aimed at determining evolution of the properties of a macrostructure over the long term. The paper also describes supplementary continuum scale numerical studies concerning concrete-clay interactions and geochemical impact on the physical structure of concrete. Preliminary findings from these studies show encouraging results such as the development of novel leaching, water permeability and diffusion apparatus, a robust pore scale model based on Lattice-Boltzmann method and a mesoscale study focused on the importance of interfacial transition zones on the effective diffusivity for linear and nonlinear diffusion problems. (authors)
The purpose of lessons learned is to identify insight gained during a project – successes or failures – that can be applied on future projects. Lessons learned can contribute to the overall success of a project by building on approaches that have worked well and avoiding previous mistakes. Below are examples of lessons learned during ERDF’s ARRA-funded expansion project.
The simulation work presented in this report supports DOE-NE Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) goals related to the development of drift scale in-situ field testing of heat-generating nuclear waste (HGNW) in salt formations. Numerical code verification and validation is an important part of the lead-up to field testing, allowing exploration of potential heater emplacement designs, monitoring locations, and perhaps most importantly the ability to predict heat and mass transfer around an evolving test. Such predictions are crucial for the design and location of sampling and monitoring that can be used to validate our understanding of a drift scale test that is likely to span several years.
This status report provides a FY2016 update on work performed to collect information on the corrosion behavior of LAW glasses to support the IDF PA. In addition to the development of the baseline operating envelope for the WTP, since 2003, VSL has developed a wide range of LAW formulations that achieve considerably higher waste loadings than the WTP baseline formulations.
In accordance with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requirements in DOE M 435.1 Chg. 1, and as implemented by DOE/RL-2009-29, the DOE Richland Operations Office has prepared this annual summary of the Hanford Site Composite Analysis for fiscal year 2017.
This document summarizes the flow-down of requirements from TFR-483 and SAR-419 and provides a roadmap for a verification of the requirements. The project vital safety systems include the vault shield plugs (VSP) and the cask-to-vault adapting structure (CVAS).
No abstract provided.
This annual report includes the results of the ETOS sample collection and analysis of the effluent water from the ETOS. The effluent sample was collected on October 9, 2018. Sampling activities were performed in accordance with the requirements of WPC Permit NEV 96021, Revision 1, which is effective October 1, 2013. Although the stated end date of the WPC permit is September 3 O, 2018, the NDEP, in a letter dated September 21, 2018, provided guidance that indicated the WPC Permit NEV 96021, Revision 1, is in effect until NOEP notifies NNSA/NFO otherwise.
The overall purpose of this research is to improve understanding of THMC coupling effect on the reconsolidation of granular (or crushed) salt-clay mixture used for seal systems of shafts and drifts in salt repositories. This proposed work is partially motivated by the recent work on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) that shows the promising sealing capability of clay-salt mixture compared to crushed salt. In particular, primary emphasis is to develop a fully integrated multiscale experiment-numerical study to determine and explain what leads to the superior sealing ability of the clay-salt mixture. These research activities are designed to seek further understanding of (1) why clay additives may enhance the fluid trapping and (2) whether this flow barrier effect may prevail under different combinations of temperature, confining pressure, deviatoric stress and other foreseeable environmental factors. If successful, this enhanced flow trapping ability of the seal provides significant improvement to the seal and repository performance and therefore make the repository safer in the long-term. The experiment component includes microstructural investigation and macroscopic tests on a reconsolidated salt-clay mixture. In the microstructural study, the goal is to (1) characterize microscopic distributions of distinct phases (e.g., clay, salt crystal boundaries, trapped brine, and pore) to examine the connectivity of the pore network inside the salt-clay mixture with different amounts of clay additive and moisture content and (2) analyze multiscale imaging data to reconstruct the polycrystalline microstructures for numerical simulations. Meanwhile, macroscopic tests are performed to analyze how clay alters the failure/creep mechanisms in the salt-clay mixture. Microscopic and macroscopic experimental observations will both be used to calibrate and validate a multiscale model that explicitly simulates the capillary and multiphase flow in the connected pores and the deformation due to the presence of intra-crystalline brine at the pore scale via a new polyhedral discrete element–lattice Boltzmann method (DEM-LBM) coupling model. The pore-scale simulations are homogenized via an upscaling procedure that converts pore-scale information (e.g. force exerted on grain boundary, sliding, pressure-solution) to continuum measures (e.g. Cauchy stress, Darcy’s flow) at each integration point in the macroscopic multiphase TMHC model. This multiscale scheme will allow coupling be- tween high-fidelity simulations of brine-salt-clay interaction and the macroscopic TMHC model. The multiscale model helps the understanding of how the trapped brine inclusion affects the pressure-solution mechanism with the presence of clay and moisture. This work brings new insight into the sealing capacity of salt-clay mixture under elevated temperature over a long period of time - a key to evaluating the potential of salt-clay mixture usage for salt repositories.
This project demonstrated the feasibility of developing a numerical modeling tool that provides an efficient and unique approach to analyze the geomechanical performance of a deep geological repository (DGR) for high-level nuclear waste. The numerical modeling tool is physics-based and models the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) processes during the required time (up to one million years) for a DGR. The unique capability of the developed code is explicit representation of fracturing and a discrete fracture network (DFN) in the model that includes the entire repository layout for simulated time of one million years. Therefore, it can potentially address one of the challenges of analysis of a DGR, which is efficient numerical simulation of a multi-scale, physics-based models.
The purpose of this cost evaluation was to investigate a hypothetical in which radioisotopes were no longer permitted in the City of Livermore sanitary sewer. Three alternative methods were proposed to determine estimated costs and compare current practice costs to the latter. An assumption from the initial steps of the analysis was significant cost savings would be found with the alternative methods.
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No abstract prepared.