Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:39:47.748Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Geochemistry of Natural Components in the Near-Field Environment, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2011

Zell E. Peterman  and
Thomas A. Oliver
Zell E. Peterman
Affiliation:
[email protected], U.S. Geological Survey, Yucca Mountain Project Branch, MS 963 Box 25046 Denver Federal Center, 6th and Kipling Sts., Denver, CO, 80225, United States, 303-236-7883, 303-236-4930
Thomas A. Oliver
Affiliation:
[email protected], S.M. Stoller Corporation, c/o U.S. Geological Survey, MS 421 Box 25046 Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO, 80225, United States
Get access

Abstract

The natural near-field environment in and around the emplacement drifts of the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, includes the host rock, dust, seepage, and pore water. The chemical compositions of these components have been analyzed to provide a basis for assessing possible chemical and mineralogical reactions that may occur after nuclear waste is emplaced. The rock unit hosting the proposed repository has a relatively uniform chemical composition as shown by samples with a mean coefficient of variation (CV) of 9 percent for major elements. In contrast, compositional ranges of underground dust (bulk and water-soluble fractions), pore water, and seepage water are large with mean CVs ranging from 28 to 64 percent for major constituents.

Keywords

geologicchemical compositionwaste management
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 985: Symposium NN – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXX , 2006 , 0985-NN13-10
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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

1. Apted, M., King, F., Langmuir, D., Arthur, R., and Kessler, J., J. Metals 57, 1, 43 (2005).Google Scholar
2. Salve, R. and Kneafsey, T.J., Water Resour. Res. 41, W01012, oi:10.1029/2004WR003373, 13 p. (2005).Google Scholar
3. Spengler, R.W. and Fox, K.F., Jr., Rad. Waste Management and the Nuclear Fuel Cycle 13, 21 (1989).Google Scholar
4. Buesch, D.C., Spengler, R.W., Moyer, T.C., and Geslin, J.K., Proposed Stratigraphic Nomenclature and Macroscopic Identification of Lithostratigraphic Units of the Paintbrush Group Exposed at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 94-469 (1996) 47 p.Google Scholar
5. Peterman, Z.E. and Cloke, P.L., Appl. Geochem. 17, 683; and erratum, 955 (2002).Google Scholar
6. Peterman, Z.E., Paces, J.B., Neymark, L.A., and Hudson, D. B., Proc. 10th Int'l High-Level Waste Management Conf., p. 637 (2003).Google Scholar
7. Peterman, Z.E., presented at the 2006 MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, MA, 2006 (unpublished).Google Scholar
8. Peterman, Z.E. and Marshall, B.D., Geol. Soc. Amer. Abst. Prog. 34, 6, 308 (2002).Google Scholar
9. BSC, White Paper: South Ramp Water Seepage during February-May 2005., Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, Las Vegas, Nevada (2005) 25 p.Google Scholar
10. Oliver, T.A. and Whelan, J.F., Proc. 11th Int'l High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conf., (2006).Google Scholar
11. Reheis, M.C., Dust Deposition in Nevada, California, and Utah, 1984-2002 (U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2003-138) (2003) 11 p.Google Scholar
12. Scofield, K.M. and Oliver, T.A., Geol. Soc. Amer. Abst. Prog. 34, 7, 355 (2003).Google Scholar
13. Etien, R.A., Gordon, S.R., and Ileybare, G.O., UCRL-CONF-208356, 13 p., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California (2004).Google Scholar
14. Zhu, C., Winterle, J.R., and Love, E.I., Water Resour. Res. 39, 7, 1182 (2003).Google Scholar
15. Fabryka-Martin, J., Wolfsberg, A.V., Dixon, P.R., Levy, S., Musgrave, J., and Turin, H.J., Summary Report of Chlorine-36 Studies: Sampling, Analysis and Simulation of Chlorine-36 in the Exploratory Studies Facility Milestone Report 3783M, 135 p., Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (1997).Google Scholar