A hybrid modeling approach to evaluate the groundwater flow system at the low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal site in Gyeong-Ju, Korea

The development and implementation of a hybrid discrete fracture network/equivalent porous medium (DFN/EPM) approach to groundwater flow at the Gyeong-Ju low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) disposal site in the Republic of Korea is reported. The geometrical and hydrogeological properties of fractured zones, background fractures and rock matrix were derived from site characterization data and implemented as a DFN. Several DFN realizations, including the deterministic fractured zones and the stochastic background fractures, whose statistical properties were verified by comparison with in-situ fracture and hydraulic test data, were suggested, and they were then upscaled to continuums using a fracture tensor approach for site-scale flow simulations. The upscaled models were evaluated by comparison to in-situ pressure monitoring data, and then used to simulate post-closure hydrogeology for the LILW facility. Simulation results demonstrate the importance of careful characterization and implementation of fractured zones. The study highlighted the importance of reducing uncertainty regarding the properties and variability of natural background fractures, particularly in the immediate vicinity of repository emplacement.     

核废物处置场岩体断裂的遥感分析

本文利用ＴＭ和ＳＩＲ－Ａ遥感图像对甘肃北山区４个预选的核废物处置场址的岩体断裂进行了解释和编图。并运用线性构造统计分析方法，对岩体断裂发育程度进行了统计分析。     

基于离散裂隙网络模型的核素粒子迁移数值模拟研究

高放废物地质处置过程中涉及的核素在围岩裂隙地下水中的迁移问题已引起广泛关注,数值模拟是研究核素粒子运移的重要方法。目前裂隙介质中渗流模型主要是等效连续介质模型、双重介质模型和离散裂隙网络模型。对于岩体尺度裂隙地下水的流动,离散裂隙网络模型能充分表现裂隙介质的各向异性、不连续性等特征。因此,针对裂隙介质准确概化及核素迁移模拟等难点,文章结合Monte Carlo随机生成裂隙方法、裂隙渗流有限元算法和高放射性核素衰变方程等方法,依据花岗岩深钻孔裂隙统计数据,采用离散裂隙网络模型对内蒙古阿拉善高放废物地质处置预选区展开了核素粒子迁移数值模拟研究,并讨论了实例预测分析结果。结果显示:针对设定的地质模型,核素粒子从中心运移到边界的迁移路径长度平均为1293.35 m,粒子运移到边界耗费的时间平均为1.70E+11 d。     

Retardation capacity of altered granitic rock distributed along fractured and faulted zones in the orogenic belt of Japan

There are wide areas of granitic rocks in the Japanese orogenic belt. These granitic bodies inevitably contain fracture and fault systems associated with alteration zones. However, relatively little attention has been given to the possible influence of such widely distributed alteration zones on the migration of radionuclides from any radioactive waste repository that might in future be sited within granitic rock. In particular, the influences of alteration products and micro-fractures, due to chemical sorption and/or physical retardation require further consideration. In order to understand the retardation capacity of the altered deep granitic rocks, detailed geometrical characterization of pores, geochemical analysis, and batch sorption and flow-through experiments have been carried out. Those results show that the altered granite has a large volume of accessible pores, particularly in potassium-feldspar grains, which would influence nuclide retardation more than the accessible porosity in other minerals present, such as biotite. The distribution coefficients, Kd estimated from batch sorption tests and flow-through experiments suggest that altered granite has a high capability to retard the migration of nuclides. The retardation would probably be due to sorption on altered minerals such as sericite and iron hydroxides formed along grain boundaries and in pores created by dissolution, in addition to sorption on primary sorptive minerals. These results provide confidence that even altered and fractured parts of any granitic rock that might be encountered in a site for the disposal of high level radioactive waste may still retard radionuclide migration and thereby help the geosphere to function as a barrier.     

Long-term stability of flow-path structure in crystalline rocks distributed in an orogenic belt, Japan

Most evaluations of the contaminant retardation processes likely to be important in geological disposal (e.g. for high level radioactive waste (HLW)) consider only the present characteristics of fractures and associated mineral infills. Relatively little attention has been given to possible long-term changes in these features, and their influence on groundwater flow. The work reported here seeks to provide analogous evidence that such changes are not likely to be important and hence to improve confidence in the presently adopted evaluation methodology and its long-term applicability.

In the orogenic belt that is formed by the Japanese islands, there are wide areas of crystalline rock. The rocks in each area have a distinctive age sequence which is partly reflected in the characteristics of the fracture systems and associated mineral fillings that occur. These characteristics generally imply that groundwater and solutes can be conducted through fracture networks, except in the cases of fault zones or crushed zones. The structural and mineralogical features of these networks readily illustrate how certain contaminants might react and be retarded by the fracture fillings and open pore geometry, due to chemical sorption and/or physical retardation.

Here, we describe the fracture systems developed in crystalline rocks with different ages that are intruded into the Japanese orogenic belt. The aim is to build a model for the long-term fracturing process and hence to evaluate fracture ‘stability’. In particular, the comparisons are made between the fracture geometries and the frequencies observed in the 1.9–0.8 Ma Takidani Granodiorite (the youngest exposed pluton in the world), the ca. 67 Ma Toki Granite and the ca. 117 Ma Kurihashi Granodiorite located in central to northwest Japan. The observations show that all these crystalline rocks have similar fracture frequencies, with 1 to 2 fractures per meter in the massive part of rock bodies. Mineralogical studies and dating analyses of fracture fillings also suggest that fractures are relatively physically stable. Major new fractures tend not to be created in the massive part of rock bodies even when a pluton has been subjected to the regional stresses of plate movements with a duration of about 100 Ma. The results show the unique characteristics of the fracture forming process and the relatively stable geometries of fracture network systems in crystalline rocks distributed within the orogenic belt. This analogue also enables us to provide a model to build confidence in a technical approach applicable for modeling of hydrogeology and geology over long time scales under the orogenic stress field present in Japan. The model may also be useful for other stable tectonic settings as well as for a characterizing sites in crystalline rocks for the possible geological disposal of HLW and other toxic wastes.     

深圳市环境放射性异常带识别与影响因素分析

在环境放射性调查的基础上,结合地质环境特征分析,对深圳市环境放射性异常带进行识别,并对相关影响因素进行分析。研究结果表明,沿NE、NW向断裂带附近土壤氡活度浓度和花岗岩出露区岩石放射性核素含量较高,根据分析结果,识别出深圳市范围内主要有3条放射性异常带。     

Hydrological and reactive processes during rapid recharge to fracture zones: The Äspö large scale redox experiment

The hydrochemical response of fracture zones to enhanced recharge into the upper bedrock environment has been studied during a 3 a project at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) in Southeastern Sweden. Hydrochemical data obtained during the experiment provides a basis for development of a model for the impact of accelerated recharge on groundwater composition and reactive processes during repository construction and operation. Tunnel construction at the HRL resulted in a 50-fold increase in recharge rates, and a 30-fold decrease in groundwater residence times in the fracture zone studied. Up to 80% dilution of the native groundwater created the greatest impact on groundwater composition. In addition, comparison of mass balances for solutes with known conservative behaviour, and reactive solutes, indicates a significant source of HCO⁻₃, SO²⁻₄ and Na⁺ ions and a significant sink for Ca²⁺ ions within the fracture zone. These trends are explained by ion-exchange processes and microbial degradation of organic C transported from the soil with recharge. The increased microbial activity helps maintain anoxic conditions within the fracture zone. The enhanced recharge favours the performance of the geological barrier since anoxic conditions help to protect against corrosion of engineered barriers, and because long-lived isotopes of Np, Tc and U are less soluble under reducing conditions. A secondary impact is the strong dilution which affects trace element speciation, and also the stability and possible transport of colloids, through ion strength effects. Results from this experiment are primarily significant for national radioactive waste disposal programs that consider potential repository sites in granite geology, and for other programs considering disposal in fractured rock.     

Synchronism in compression of the lithosphere in the central Atlantic and Western Tethys at the Tortonian-Messinian transition

The structure of anomalously uplifted areas in transverse ridges of the Vema, S o Paulo, and Romanche fracture zones is considered. It is concluded that their formation and eventual development in the present-day structure of the central Atlantic bottom proceeded during two stages. The first stage that corresponds to a short period at the Tortonian-Messinian transition (10 Ma ago) was marked by transportation of deep-seated rocks into the upper part of the lithosphere along thrust faults with mass motion in the meridional direction along the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The second stage was characterized by contrasting highamplitude vertical movements from 10 to 3 Ma ago. It is suggested that near-meridional compression in the domains surrounding the Western Tethys in the Tortonian-Messinian resulted in deformation of the upper lithosphere within large transform fracture zones of the central Atlantic. The deformation that occurred 10 Ma ago was a manifestation of the global neotectonic epoch of the Earth.     

极低放废物处置方法分析

对于放射性活度浓度很低,但又不得不管理的极低放废物,目前国际上对此并没有明确的可操作性定义,对极低放废物的处置方式也还在探索中。由于极低放废物含有一定量具有物理性和生物性的放射性核素,考虑到政治、社会及公众接受心理等因素,在参考低中废物管理模式基础上,按危险废物处置标准处置建造专门的处置库处置极低放废物是可行的。     

Sedimentary basins of the atlantic margin of North America

Scismic exploration has identified eight distinct basin structures along the North American Atlantic continental margin forming a chain of elongate depocenters parallel to the continental slope and interrupted by transverse basement arches and impinging oceanic fracture zones. From south to north these are: South Florida—Bahamas Basin bounded on the north by Peninsular Arch and Bahama Escarpment fracture zone; Blake Plateau Basin with Cape Fear Arch and the impinging Great Abaco and Blake Spur fracture zones; Baltimore Canyon Trough bounded by the Long Island Platform and impinging Kelvin fracture zone; Georges Bank Basin with the bounding Yarmouth Arch; Scotian Shelf Basin with Scartarie and Canso Ridges and impinging Newfoundland Ridge fracture zone; Grand Banks Troughs and the intervening horst ridges; and the East Newfoundland Basin separated by Cartwright Arch and the impinging Gibbs fracture zone from the Labrador Shelf Basin.All the basins are characterized by great depths to basement filled with from 7 to 14 km of possible Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments. Basement faulting controls the basins' boundaries and the faults have affected the overlying sediments. The major boundary faults of the basins undoubtedly formed during the initial rifting of the Atlantic margin in the Jurassic or perhaps Triassic. However, throughout the Mesozoic and Cenozoic these basement faults have moved in response to different orientations of stress and strain rates produced by continued spreading of the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, the basement faults of the Atlantic Margin were apparently influenced by at least three different local stress systems, spatially overlapping but temporally independent. These are the east—west extensional Atlantic Ocean stress system, the northwest—southeast extensional White Mountain stress system, and the north-south extensional Labrador Sea stress system.Some consequences of this basic tectonic setting were differential cross-strike tilts of the basin blocks with each basin moving somewhat independent of its neighbor. The resulting buildup of the basins' sedimentary geometries reflect these tectonic tilts and varying strain rates. Correlations are found between changes in orientation and rates of Atlantic sea-floor spreading with observed major sedimentary events such as progradations, planar bedding episodes, reef platform development, regressive hiatuses, and transgressions. An understanding of this marginal geosyncline could yield a model with predictability.     

高放废物深地质处置地下水流数值模拟方法研究进展

地下水流数值模型不仅是认识深部水动力场形成演化机制的有效工具,也是建立核素迁移数值模型的基础,因而是高放废物处置场选址和安全评价中重要的技术手段。高放废物深地质处置地下水流数值模拟方法较多,如何选择适当的方法也是值得关注的问题。针对高放废物深地质处置地下水流数值模拟技术展开研究,通过阅读大量国内外文献,文章系统阐述了目前常用的4 类地下水流数值模拟方法的研究进展、适用条件和实例应用;综述了深地质处置中常用的模型不确定性分析方法及研究成果,列表给出了适用于放射性废物地质处置的地下水流数值模拟软件及其在废物处置选择和安全评价中的应用。研究结果表明:等效连续介质模型适用于大区域、长序列、裂隙发育程度较高或较均匀的地区,该类模型方法成熟、所需的数据和参数易于获得,但是不能精确刻画裂隙介质中地下水的流动特征。离散裂隙网络模型适合解决处置场地、储罐尺度等需要精细刻画的地下水流问题,但由于需要大量裂隙及其连通性数据、相关参数等,该方法存在着工作量大、耗时多的缺点。双重介质模型主要用于解决区域尺度裂隙水流问题,但并不能表现出裂隙介质的各向异性、不连续性等特征,因而适用范围存在一定的限制。等效-离散耦合模型可以通过区域分解法对裂隙密度大的区域采用等效连续介质模型,对于裂隙密度较小的地区采用离散裂隙网络模型,从而更符合一般地质条件下裂隙渗流的特征,但也存在交换量难以确定、模型耦合技术问题。通过灵敏度分析,将不同敏感因子对模型敏感指标的影响程度进行排序,提高模型精度、减少参数不确定性分析的工作量。蒙特卡罗法是目前常用的一种模型不确定性方法,原理简单、易于实现。文章展望了数值模型在仿真性、不确定性分析、预测和多介质耦合等方面的研究前景。     

High-resolution reflection seismic imaging of the upper crust at Laxemar, southeastern Sweden

A major cost in exploring the upper 1–2 km of crystalline crust with reflection seismics is the drilling required for explosive sources. By reducing the charge size to a minimum, shallow inexpensive shotholes can be drilled with handheld equipment. Here, we present results from a full-scale test using small charges for high-resolution seismic surveying over a nuclear waste disposal study site (not an actual site). Two 2–2.5-km-long crossing profiles were acquired in December 1999 with 10-m shot and geophone spacing in the Laxemar area, near Oskarshamn in southeastern Sweden. After standard processing, including dip moveout (DMO), several subhorizontal to moderately dipping reflections are imaged. Many of the dipping ones can be correlated to fracture zones observed in a ca. 1700-m-deep borehole where the profiles cross and/or to fracture zones mapped on the surface. The imaged fracture zones form a complex 3D pattern illustrating the necessity of having 3D control before interpreting seismic reflection data. Analyses of sonic and density logs from the borehole show that greenstones have significantly higher impedances than the more dominant granite found in the borehole (granite/greenstone reflection coefficient is +0.065). These greenstones may contribute to the reflectivity when associated with fracture zones. In some cases, where they are present as larger subhorizontal lenses, they may be the dominant source of reflectivity. A set of north-dipping (10°) reflectors at 3–3.5-km depth can be correlated to a similar set observed below the island of Ävrö about 3 km to the east.     

Foraminiferal stratigraphy, palaeoenvironments and sedimentation of the glacigenic sequence southwest of Bjørrnøya

Based on four shallow drillings in the outer part of the Bjørnøya trough, palaeoenvironments of foraminifera in glacigenic sediments are discussed. Different methods were used; detailed foraminiferal analysis, oxygen and carbon stable isotope analysis and transfer functions. Six different foraminiferal assemblage zones were found. One zone, AA, appears to be pre-Pleistocene in age and contains an abundance of reworked early Tertiary foraminifera. Four of the assemblage zones have a dominant arctic foraminiferal content; however, a marked boreal input is evident, particularly in zone B where B. marginata dominates. We suggest that B. marginata has been resedimented from pre-Eemian 'warm' deposits. Its occurrence in these older warm intervals possibly reflects a lower input of the Norwegian Current into the area and possibly an increase in the relative nutrient content of the water masses. The six zones have also differing numbers of foram./gram sediment. An assemblage zone where a boreal component of foraminifera ( E. nipponica, P. bulloides ) dominates was found, zone C. We define this particular assemblage zone to be of Eemian age (isotope substage 5e). The foraminiferal assemblage composition and the oxygen and carbon isotopes from zone C indicate that oceanographic conditions in the Barents Sea during the Eemian were slightly different from those of the present and that, possibly, Atlantic waters were more prevalent.     

高放废物深地质处置及国内研究进展

核能在产生电力造福社会的同时 ,也留下了放射性废物。我们有责任对这些废物实施安全和正确的管理。本文阐述了高放废物深地质处置的一般概念及处置库选址研究中的若干问题 ,同时介绍了国内高放废物深地质处置研究的进展.     

极低放废物近地表处置的环境安全评价方法研究

放射性废物处置是当前严峻的环保问题之一,从经济、安全和高效角度出发,将极低放废物从中、低放废物中分离出来单独处置,对核废物的管理与处置具有重要意义。本文以我国西南某极低放废物备选处置场为研究对象,系统分析了处置的相关技术方法,重点研究了屏障技术和环境安全评价方法及其应用。针对拟建在古泥石流体山区山顶上的处置场,选取核素90Sr作为处置对象,选用盆状屏障式处置库,估算产生的核素90Sr的总活度和比活度。选用筛分的颗粒d<1 mm的介质作为屏障材料,厚度为0.5 m,批试验结果显示上述材料对90Sr的吸附效果明显;模拟计算结果显示核素90Sr在50 a内被完全阻滞在包气带中,可以达到安全处置废物的要求。     

巴彦诺日公地段花岗岩微裂隙发育特征研究

花岗岩是高放射核废料地质处置库的主要围岩之一,其水力学特征优劣直接决定了花岗岩体能否有效地阻隔地下水对处置库中核废物的侵袭。围岩微裂隙结构和化学风化程度是水力学特征的直观表现,微裂隙结构量化和化学风化程度计算对高放射核废料地质处置库埋藏深度的比选有一定的科学意义。本文以阿拉善某600 m的花岗岩钻孔内不同深度的岩芯作为研究对象,得到大量的微裂隙显微照片;通过测网法和图像处理技术,获得岩芯数字化的裂隙空间分布图像,并从中提取了微裂隙特征参数（裂隙条数、隙宽、裂隙率、裂隙面密度参数等）;然后,对微裂隙特征参数进行了统计分析,描述了裂隙空间分布变异性。花岗岩样品的化学风化程度评价指标有:天然含水率、CIA。同时,利用SEM-EDS探测裂隙部位形貌特征及元素含量等数据。最后,对花岗岩完整性与核废料处置库适宜性进行综合评价。通过本研究,得到了以下结论:（1）研究区的花岗岩微裂隙发育情况随深度增大逐渐变弱。（2）花岗岩受外力作用后微裂隙首先发育在石英中,其次是在长石和黑云母中。（3）临近破碎带,裂隙率、平均隙宽、裂隙条数均增大,同时受后期热液填充的影响,CIA也会表现出高值。（4）破碎带的发育,对周边完整岩体的微观破裂影响距离可以超过10.6 m,后期热液对下方完整岩体的侵染蚀变影响距离可以超过50.27 m。（5）通过综合评价,来自该钻孔不同深度的7个样品中,取自地下598.8 m处的样品所代表的位置最适宜作为核废料处置库深埋区。     

Shale as a repository for radioactive waste: The evidence from Oklo

Study of the 1.8 billion-year-old “fossil nuclear reactor” zones at the Oklo Mine in the Republic of Gabon shows that many of the elements produced by fission have been almost completely retained, as evidenced by proper budgets of stable daughter elements. Plutonium, ruthenium, the rare earth elements, zirconium, and palladium have been effectively retained while most chalcophile elements exhibit some degree of remobilization. The alkali and alkaline earth elements have migrated to varying degrees but their presence in gangue affected by younger periods of alteration suggests redistribution not far removed from sites of formation. More important, such migration may not have started until some 25,000,000 years after the reactor shut down. The noble gases xenon and krypton escaped with apparent ease during the 500,000 years the reactor was operative, and iodine seems to have been mobile. The Oklo reactor ores, significantly, occur in shale infilled into a fracture system in organo-argillaceous sandstone. So many of the fission-produced elements retained in this shale along with evidence that most others may have been only locally redistributed lends support to considering shales in geologically stable areas for radioactive waste disposal.     

基于土壤氡气测量识别甘肃北山南缘隐伏断裂

我国高放废物地质处置库首选预选区位于甘肃北山南缘，区内分布有多条大型非活动断裂构造，这些断裂很可能成为未来放射性核素迁移的主要通道。断裂在向地表延伸过程中，受第四系覆盖等因素影响，造成关键构造部位隐伏地下而难以识别。本文以北山地区新场地段南部红旗山和前红泉断裂为研究对象，采用土壤中氡气测量方法，探讨了大型断裂构造中隐伏段落的识别及其指示的水文地质意义。结果表明：土壤中氡气测量对于识别北山南缘隐伏断裂具有很好的指示意义，是传统地质调查方法的一种重要补充；红旗山和前红泉断裂裂隙系统整体开启性均较差，裂隙系统不发育，影响范围较小，不具备形成较大规模储水空间的可能性。不同断裂带土壤氡浓度背景值差异较大，可根据土壤氡浓度累积频率分布图确定背景值；土壤氡浓度等值线分布图对判断隐伏断裂位置具有一定的指示作用。对于压剪性断裂而言，主断裂多沿氡气高异常与低异常边界分布或表现为氡气中等异常，而两侧的次级断裂表现为氡气高异常。     

遥感图象在放射性水化学找矿中的应用

本文以实例介绍了遥感图象在放射性水化学找矿中,解译与放射性水异常有联系的断裂构造及其影响带,以及应用遥感图象圈定与铀矿化有内在联系的地热异常区和热水活动带。根据遥感图象追踪古河道、古湖沼洼地、古冲-洪积扇(群),研究分析铀源条件。通过有针对性的放射性水化学取样分析工作,结合其它资料,从而圈定出铀成矿远景区。