Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-vt8vv Total loading time: 0.001 Render date: 2024-08-10T09:58:33.955Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Basalt/Water System: Considerations for a Nuclear Waste Repository

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

D.L. Lane ,
M.J. Apted ,
C.C. Allen  and
J. Myers
D.L. Lane
Affiliation:
Basalt Waste Isolation Project, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA 99352
M.J. Apted
Affiliation:
Basalt Waste Isolation Project, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA 99352
C.C. Allen
Affiliation:
Basalt Waste Isolation Project, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA 99352
J. Myers
Affiliation:
Basalt Waste Isolation Project, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA 99352
Get access

Abstract

High-level nuclear Waste emplaced in a repository in basalt will lead to elevated temperatures and chemical reactions between the basalt and repository groundwater. The resultant changes in groundwater chemistry and the formation of secondary minerals will affect radionuclide release rates from the repository. In this study, Grande Ronde Basalt and synthetic groundwater were reacted at temperatures of 100°, 150°, and 300°C at a pressure of 30 MPa. Dickson-type sampling autoclaves were used to follow solution composition changes with time. Solution PH remained weakly alkaline, while steady state concentrations of F-, Cl-, SO4-2, and total Carbon were similar to or lower than initial values. Alteration assemblages at 300°C included silica, zeolites, potassium feldspar, and iron smectite. These assemblages are metastable, and prediction of alteration in the basalt and packing material depends on “accelerated” tests results and must be supplemented by study of metastable assemblages in natural analog systems and by tests in open systems with varying flow rates. Experimental data are consistent with rapid adjustment of Eh to reducing values; however, more work on reaction rates and buffering capacity is in progress.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 26: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VII , 1983 , 95
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Westinghouse, AESD-TME-3142, Westinghouse Electric Co., Pittsburgh, PA (1982).Google Scholar
2. Allen, C.C., Lane, D.L., Palmer, R.A., and Johnston, R.G., Experimental Studies of Packing Material Stability, this volume 1933).Google Scholar
3. Myers, C.W. and Price, S.M. eds., Subsurface Geology of the Cold Creek Syncline, RHO-BWI-ST-14, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA (1981).10.2172/5671908Google Scholar
4. Palmer, R.A. and others, Characterization of Reference Materials for the Barrier Materials Test Progran, RHO-BW-ST-27 P, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA (1982).Google Scholar
5. Allen, C.C. and Strope, M.B., Microcharacterization of Basalt-Considerations for a Nuclear Waste Repository in: Proc. of 17th Annual Mtg. of Microbeam Analysis Society, Phoenix, AZ (San Francisco Press 1983) 51–53.Google Scholar
6. Jones, T.E., Reference Material Chemistry Synthetic Groundwater Formulation, RHO-BW-ST-37 P, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA (1982).Google Scholar
7. Brunauer, S. and others, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 60, 309–319 (1938).10.1021/ja01269a023Google Scholar
8. Seyfried, W.E. and others, Amer. Mineral. 64, 646–649 (1979).Google Scholar
9. Lasaga, A.C., Rate Laws of Chemical Reactions in: Kinetics of Geochemical Processes of Reviews in Mineralogy, Lasaga, A.C. and Kirkpatrick, R.J. eds., 8, 1–68 (1981).Google Scholar
10. Aagaard, P. and Helgeson, H.C., Amer. J. Sci. 282, 237–285 (1982).10.2475/ajs.282.3.237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Shanks, W.C. III and others, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 45, 1977–1995 (1981).10.1016/0016-7037(81)90054-5Google Scholar
12. Lane, D.L., Jones, T.E., and West, M.H., Preliminary Assessment of Oxygen Consumption and Redox Conditions in a Nuclear Waste Repository in Basalt in: Amer. Chem. Soc. Symp. on Geochemical Behavior of Disposed Radioactive Waste, (in press).Google Scholar
13. National Research Council, A Study of the Isolation System for Geologic Disposal of Radioactive Wastes, (Natl. Acad. Press, Washington, D.C. 1983).Google Scholar
14. Berner, R.A., and others, Nature 207, 1205–1206 (1980).Google Scholar
15. Dibble, W.E. Jr. and Tiller, W.A., Clays Clay Min. 29, 323–330 (1981).10.1346/CCMN.1981.0290502Google Scholar
16. Kristmannsdottir, H. and Tornsson, J., Zeolite Zones in Geothermal Areas in Iceland in: Natural Zeolites: Occurrence, Properties, Use: Sand, L.B. and Mumpton, F.A. eds., (Pergamon Press, NY 1978) 277–284.Google Scholar
17. Ellis, A.J., Barnes, H.L. ed., (John Wiley, NY 1979) 632–683.Google Scholar
18. Kristmannsdottir, H. and Tomasson, J., Nesjavellir-Hydrothermal Alteration in a High-Temperature Area in: Proc. Intl. Syrp. on Water/Rock Interaction, Cadek, J. and Paces, T. eds., Czechoslovakia, Geol. Survey Prague, 170–177 (1974).Google Scholar
19. Liou, J.G., Contr. Mineral. Petrol. 27, 259–282 (1970).10.1007/BF00389814Google Scholar
20. Benson, L.V. and others, LBL-9677, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, CA.Google Scholar
21. Smyth, J.R., J. Geology 90, 195–201 (1982).10.1086/628664Google Scholar
22. Norton, D., Bull. Mineral. 102, 471–486 (1979).Google Scholar