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Radionuclides in Hydrothermal Systems as Indicators of Repository Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

H.A. Wollenberg ,
S. Flexser  and
A.R. Smith
H.A. Wollenberg
Affiliation:
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley CA, 94720
S. Flexser
Affiliation:
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley CA, 94720
A.R. Smith
Affiliation:
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley CA, 94720
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Abstract

Hydrothermal systems in tuffaceous and older sedimentary rocks contain evidence of the interaction of radionuclides in fluids with rock matrix minerals and with materials lining fractures, in settings somewhat analogous to the candidate repository site at Yucca Mountain, NV. Earlier studies encompassed the occurrences of U and Th in a “fossil” hydrothermal system in tuffaceous rock of the San Juan Mountains volcanic field, CO. More recent and ongoing studies examine active hydrothermal systems in calderas at Long Valley, CA and Valles, NM. At the Nevada Test Site, occurrences of U and Th in fractured and unfractured rhyolitic tuff that was heated to simulate the introduction of radioactive waste are also under investigation. Observations to date suggest that U is mobile in hydrothermal systems, but that localized reducing environments provided by Fe-rich minerals and/or carbonaceous material concentrate U and thus attenuate its migration.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 212: Symposium P – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XIV , 1990 , 711
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1991

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References

REFERENCES

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