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The Importance of Thermal Loading Conditions to Waste Package Performance at Yucca Mountain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Thomas A. Buscheck  and
John J. Nitao
Thomas A. Buscheck
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Division, L–206, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94551
John J. Nitao
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Division, L–206, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94551
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Abstract

Temperature and relative humidity are primary environmental factors affecting waste package corrosion rates for the potential repository in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Under ambient conditions, the repository environment is quite humid. If relative humidity is low enough (<70%), corrosion will be minimal. Under humid conditions, corrosion is reduced if the temperature is low (<60°C). Using the V-TOUGH code, we model thermo-hydrological flow to investigate the effect of repository heat on temperature and relative humidity in the repository for a wide range of thermal loads. These calculations indicate that repository heat may substantially reduce relative humidity on the waste package, over hundreds of years for low thermal loads and over tens of thousands of years for high thermal loads. Temperatures associated with a given relative humidity decrease with increasing thermal load. Thermal load distributions can be optimized to yield a more uniform reduction in relative humidity during the boiling period.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 353: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XVIII , 1994 , 403
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

REFERENCES

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