Comment on: “Origin, timing, and temperature of secondary calcite-silica mineral formation at Yucca Mountain, Nevada” by N. S. F. Wilson, J. S. Cline, and Y. V. Amelin

Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada is being evaluated as a potential site for the geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste. A reliable assessment of the future performance of the repository will require detailed paleohydrogeological information. Hydrogenic secondary minerals from the vadose zone of Yucca Mountain are being studied as paleohydrogeological indicators. A phenomenological model envisaging the deposition of secondary minerals by meteoric fluids infiltrating downward though the vadose zone was proposed in the reviewed paper. Our evaluation reveals that the model is not supported by empiric evidence reported in the paper.     

Geohydrological models and earthquake effects at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

 Yucca Mountain, the proposed site for the high-level nuclear waste repository, is located just south of where the present water table begins a sharp rise in elevation. This large hydraulic gradient is a regional feature that extends for over 100 km. Yucca Mountain and its vicinity are underlain by faulted and fractured tuffs with hydraulic conductivities controlled by flow through the fractures. Close to and parallel with the region of large hydraulic gradient, and surrounding the core of the Timber Mountain Caldera, there is a 10- to 20-km-wide zone containing few faults and thus, most likely, few open fractures. Consequently, this zone should have a relatively low hydraulic conductivity, and this inference is supported by the available conductivity measurements in wells near the large hydraulic gradient. Also, slug injection tests indicate significantly higher pressures for fracture opening in wells located near the large hydraulic gradient compared to the opening pressures in wells further to the south, hence implying that lower extensional stresses prevail to the north with consequently fewer open fractures there. Analytical and numerical modeling shows that such a boundary between media of high and low conductivity can produce the observed, large hydraulic gradient, with the high conductivity medium having a lower elevation than the water table. Further, as fractures can close due to tectonic activity, the conductivity of the Yucca Mountain tuffs can be reduced to a value near that for the hydraulic barrier due to strain release by a moderate earthquake. Under these conditions, simulations show that the elevation of the steady-state water table could rise between 150 and 250 m at the repository site. This elevation rise is due to the projected shift in the location of the large hydraulic gradient to the south in response to a moderate earthquake, near magnitude 6, along one of the major normal faults adjacent to Yucca Mountain. As the proposed repository would only be 200–400 m above the present water table, this predicted rise in the water table indicates a potential hazard involving water intrusion. Received: 7 June 1996 / Accepted: 19 November 1996     

Physical and stable-isotope evidence for formation of secondary calcite and silica in the unsaturated zone,Yucca Mountain,Nevada

Calcite and silica form coatings on fracture footwalls and cavity floors in the welded tuffs at Yucca Mountain, the potential site of a high-level radioactive waste repository. These secondary mineral deposits are heterogeneously distributed in the unsaturated zone (UZ) with fewer than 10% of possible depositional sites mineralized. The paragenetic sequence, compiled from deposits throughout the UZ, consists of an early-stage assemblage of calcite±fluorite±zeolites that is frequently capped by chalcedony±quartz. Intermediate- and late-stage deposits consist largely of calcite, commonly with opal on buried growth layers or outermost crystal faces of the calcite. Coatings on steep-dipping fractures usually are thin (⩽3 mm) with low-relief outer surfaces whereas shallow-dipping fractures and lithophysal cavities typically contain thicker, more coarsely crystalline deposits characterized by unusual thin, tabular calcite blades up to several cms in length. These blades may be capped with knobby or corniced overgrowths of late-stage calcite intergrown with opal. The observed textures in the fracture and cavity deposits are consistent with deposition from films of water fingering down fracture footwalls or drawn up faces of growing crystals by surface tension and evaporated at the crystal tips. Fluid inclusion studies have shown that most early-stage and some intermediate-stage calcite formed at temperatures of 35 to 85 °C. Calcite deposition during the past several million years appears to have been at temperatures <30 °C. The elevated temperatures indicated by the fluid inclusions are consistent with temperatures estimated from calcite δ¹⁸O values. Although others have interpreted the elevated temperatures as evidence of hydrothermal activity and flooding of the tuffs of the potential repository, the authors conclude that the temperatures and fluid-inclusion assemblages are consistent with deposition in a UZ environment that experienced prolonged heat input from gradual cooling of nearby plutons. The physical restriction of the deposits (and, therefore, fluid flow) to fracture footwalls and cavity floors and the heterogeneous and limited distribution of the deposits provides compelling evidence that they do not reflect flooding of the thick UZ at Yucca Mountain. The textures and isotopic and chemical compositions of these mineral deposits are consistent with deposition in a UZ setting from meteoric waters percolating downward along fracture flow paths.     

The geohydrologic setting of Yucca Mountain,Nevada

This paper provides a geologic and hydrologic framework of the Yucca Mountain region for the geochemical papers in this volume. The regional geologic units, which range in age from late Precambrian through Holocene, are briefly described. Yucca Mountain is composed of dominantly pyroclastic units that range in age from 11.4 to 15.2 Ma. The principal focus of study has been on the Paintbrush Group, which includes two major zoned and welded ash-flow tuffs separated by an important hydrogeologic unit referred to as the Paintbrush non-welded (PTn). The regional structural setting is currently one of extension, and the major local tectonic domains are presented together with a tectonic model that is consistent with the known structures at Yucca Mountain. Streamflow in this arid to semi-arid region occurs principally in intermittent or ephemeral channels. Near Yucca Mountain, the channels of Fortymile Wash and Amargosa River collect infrequent runoff from tributary basins, ultimately draining to Death Valley. Beneath the surface, large-scale interbasin flow of groundwater from one valley to another occurs commonly in the region. Regional groundwater flow beneath Yucca Mountain originates in the high mesas to the north and returns to the surface either in southern Amargosa Desert or in Death Valley, where it is consumed by evapotranspiration. The water table is very deep beneath the upland areas such as Yucca Mountain, where it is 500–750 m below the land surface, providing a large thickness of unsaturated rocks that are potentially suitable to host a nuclear-waste repository. The nature of unsaturated flow processes, which are important for assessing radionuclide migration, are inferred mainly from hydrochemical or isotopic evidence, from pneumatic tests of the fracture systems, and from the results of in situ experiments. Water seeping down through the unsaturated zone flows rapidly through fractures and more slowly through the pores of the rock matrix. Although capillary forces are expected to divert much of the flow around repository openings, some may drip onto waste packages, ultimately causing release of radionuclides, followed by transport down to the water table.     

Estimating recharge at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA: comparison of methods

Obtaining values of net infiltration, groundwater travel time, and recharge is necessary at the Yucca Mountain site, Nevada, USA, in order to evaluate the expected performance of a potential repository as a containment system for high-level radioactive waste. However, the geologic complexities of this site, its low precipitation and net infiltration, with numerous mechanisms operating simultaneously to move water through the system, provide many challenges for the estimation of the spatial distribution of recharge. A variety of methods appropriate for arid environments has been applied, including water-balance techniques, calculations using Darcy's law in the unsaturated zone, a soil-physics method applied to neutron-hole water-content data, inverse modeling of thermal profiles in boreholes extending through the thick unsaturated zone, chloride mass balance, atmospheric radionuclides, and empirical approaches. These methods indicate that near-surface infiltration rates at Yucca Mountain are highly variable in time and space, with local (point) values ranging from zero to several hundred millimeters per year. Spatially distributed net-infiltration values average 5 mm/year, with the highest values approaching 20 mm/year near Yucca Crest. Site-scale recharge estimates range from less than 1 to about 12 mm/year. These results have been incorporated into a site-scale model that has been calibrated using these data sets that reflect infiltration processes acting on highly variable temporal and spatial scales. The modeling study predicts highly non-uniform recharge at the water table, distributed significantly differently from the non-uniform infiltration pattern at the surface. Electronic Publication     

Thermal history of the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain,Nevada, USA

Secondary calcite, silica and minor amounts of fluorite deposited in fractures and cavities record the chemistry, temperatures, and timing of past fluid movement in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the proposed site of a high-level radioactive waste repository. The distribution and geochemistry of these deposits are consistent with low-temperature precipitation from meteoric waters that infiltrated at the surface and percolated down through the unsaturated zone. However, the discovery of fluid inclusions in calcite with homogenization temperatures (T_h) up to ∼80 °C was construed by some scientists as strong evidence for hydrothermal deposition. This paper reports the results of investigations to test the hypothesis of hydrothermal deposition and to determine the temperature and timing of secondary mineral deposition. Mineral precipitation temperatures in the unsaturated zone are estimated from calcite- and fluorite-hosted fluid inclusions and calcite δ¹⁸O values, and depositional timing is constrained by the ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U ages of chalcedony or opal in the deposits. Fluid inclusion T_h from 50 samples of calcite and four samples of fluorite range from ∼35 to ∼90 °C. Calcite δ¹⁸O values range from ∼0 to ∼22‰ (SMOW) but most fall between 12 and 20‰. The highest T_h and the lowest δ¹⁸O values are found in the older calcite. Calcite T_h and δ¹⁸O values indicate that most calcite precipitated from water with δ¹⁸O values between −13 and −7‰, similar to modern meteoric waters.     

Geochemistry of rock units at the potential repository level,Yucca Mountain,Nevada

The compositional variability of the phenocryst-poor member of the 12.8 Ma Topopah Spring Tuff at the potential repository level was assessed by duplicate analysis of 20 core samples from the cross drift at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Previous analyses of outcrop and core samples of the Topopah Spring Tuff showed that the phenocryst-poor rhyolite, which includes both lithophysal and nonlithophysal zones, is relatively uniform in composition. Analyses of rock samples from the cross drift, the first from the actual potential repository block, also indicate the chemical homogeneity of this unit excluding localized deposits of vapor-phase minerals and low-temperature calcite and opal in fractures, cavities, and faults. The possible influence of vapor-phase minerals and calcite and opal coatings on rock composition at a scale sufficiently large to incorporate these heterogeneously distributed deposits was evaluated and is considered to be relatively minor. Therefore, the composition of the phenocryst-poor member of the Topopah Spring Tuff is considered to be adequately represented by the analyses of samples from the cross drift. The mean composition as represented by the 10 most abundant oxides in wt.% or g/100 g is: SiO₂, 76.29; Al₂O₃, 12.55; FeO, 0.14; Fe₂O₃, 0.97; MgO, 0.13; CaO, 0.50; Na₂O, 3.52; K₂O, 4.83; TiO₂, 0.11; and MnO, 0.07.     

U-Pb ages of secondary silica at Yucca Mountain,Nevada: implications for the paleohydrology of the unsaturated zone

Uranium, Th and Pb isotopes were analyzed in layers of opal and chalcedony from individual mm- to cm-thick calcite and silica coatings at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA, a site that is being evaluated for a potential high-level nuclear waste repository. These calcite and silica coatings on fractures and in lithophysal cavities in Miocene-age tuffs in the unsaturated zone (UZ) precipitated from descending water and record a long history of percolation through the UZ. Opal and chalcedony have high concentrations of U (10 to 780 ppm) and low concentrations of common Pb as indicated by large values of ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb (up to 53,806), thus making them suitable for U-Pb age determinations. Interpretations of U-Pb isotope systems in opal samples at Yucca Mountain are complicated by the incorporation of excess ²³⁴U at the time of mineral formation, resulting in reverse discordance of U-Pb ages. However, the ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U ages are much less affected by deviation from initial secular equilibrium and provide reliable ages of most silica deposits between 0.6 and 9.8 Ma. For chalcedony subsamples showing normal age discordance, these ages may represent minimum times of deposition. Typically, ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U ages are consistent with the microstratigraphy in the mineral coating samples, such that the youngest ages are for subsamples from outer layers, intermediate ages are from inner layers, and oldest ages are from innermost layers. ²³⁴U and ²³⁰Th in most silica layers deeper in the coatings are in secular equilibrium with ²³⁸U, which is consistent with their old age and closed system behavior during the past ∼0.5 Ma. The ages for subsamples of silica layers from different microstratigraphic positions in individual calcite and silica coating samples collected from lithophysal cavities in the welded part of the Topopah Spring Tuff yield slow long-term average growth rates of 1 to 5 mm/Ma. These data imply that the deeper parts of the UZ at Yucca Mountain maintained long-term hydrologic stability over the past 10 Ma. despite significant climate variations. U-Pb ages for subsamples of silica layers from different microstratigraphic positions in individual calcite and silica coating samples collected from fractures in the shallower part of the UZ (welded part of the overlying Tiva Canyon Tuff) indicate larger long-term average growth rates up to 23 mm/Ma and an absence of recently deposited materials (ages of outermost layers are 3–5 Ma.). These differences between the characteristics of the coatings for samples from the shallower and deeper parts of the UZ may indicate that the nonwelded tuffs (PTn), located between the welded parts of the Tiva Canyon and Topopah Spring Tuffs, play an important role in moderating UZ flow.     

Natural radionuclide mobility and its influence on U-Th-Pb dating of secondary minerals from the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Extreme U and Pb isotope variations produced by disequilibrium in decay chains of ²³⁸U and ²³²Th are found in calcite, opal/chalcedony, and Mn-oxides occurring as secondary mineral coatings in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. These very slowly growing minerals (mm my⁻¹) contain excess ²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb formed from excesses of intermediate daughter isotopes and cannot be used as reliable ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U geochronometers. The presence of excess intermediate daughter isotopes does not appreciably affect ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U ages of U-enriched opal/chalcedony, which are interpreted as mineral formation ages.Opal and calcite from outer (younger) portions of coatings have ²³⁰Th/U ages from 94.6 ± 3.7 to 361.3 ± 9.8 ka and initial ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratios (AR) from 4.351 ± 0.070 to 7.02 ± 0.12, which indicate ²³⁴U enrichment from percolating water. Present-day ²³⁴U/²³⁸U AR is ∼1 in opal/chalcedony from older portions of the coatings. The ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U ages of opal/chalcedony samples range from 0.1329 ± 0.0080 to 9.10 ± 0.21 Ma, increase with microstratigraphic depth, and define slow long-term average growth rates of about 1.2-2.0 mm my⁻¹, in good agreement with previous results. Measured ²³⁴U/²³⁸U AR in Mn-oxides, which pre-date the oldest calcite and opal/chalcedony, range from 0.939 ± 0.006 to 2.091 ± 0.006 and are >1 in most samples. The range of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios (0.71156-0.71280) in Mn-oxides overlaps that in the late calcite. These data indicate that Mn-oxides exchange U and Sr with percolating water and cannot be used as a reliable dating tool.In the U-poor calcite samples, measured ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios have a wide range, do not correlate with Ba concentration as would be expected if excess Ra was present, and reach a value of about 1400, the highest ever reported for natural Pb. Calcite intergrown with opal contains excesses of both ²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁷Pb derived from Rn diffusion and from direct α-recoil from U-rich opal. Calcite from coatings devoid of opal/chalcedony contains ²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb excesses, but no appreciable ²⁰⁷Pb excesses. Observed Pb isotope anomalies in calcite are explained by Rn-produced excess Pb. The Rn emanation may strongly affect ²⁰⁶Pb-²³⁸U ages of slow-growing U-poor calcite, but should be negligible for dating fast-growing U-enriched speleothem calcite.     

Conceptual model for radionuclide release,Yucca Mountain,Nevada, USA

A new conceptual model for release rate of radionuclides from the proposed repository for high level nuclear waste located at Yucca Mountain, Nevada is developed. The model predicts that heat generated from radioactive decay combined with the unsaturated environment will lead to an inward flow system that, under many relevant conditions, will slow the release of and sometimes sequester radionuclides at locations of higher heat release and lower water percolation. The amount of protection will be greatest for more concentrated waste forms such as spent fuel and less for glass waste forms. The redistribution and concentration of the radionuclides is anticipated to significantly delay radionuclide release and create a tendency towards gradual release over time that is independent of localized penetrations of metallic barriers.     

Uniaxial strength testing of non-welded Calico Hills tuff, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

A detailed investigation of the strength properties of Calico Hills tuff was undertaken to further characterize the behavior of this unit. Uniaxial compression tests on 43 specimens of massive and reworked tuff show a dependence of peak strength and Young's modulus on the total porosity, and thereby on the geologic history of the Calico Hills tuff. The average Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, and compressive (peak) strength of dry specimens of massive (and reworked) tuff are: 5.43±0.96 GPa (9.80±0.89 GPa), 0.194±0.052 (0.244±0.067), and 26.34±5.13 MPa (38.64±4.96 MPa). Wet specimens of massive tuff have compressive strengths of 15.34±0.70 MPa, lower than those of dry specimens. The post-peak region for this brittle tuff is characterized by rapid load drops and well-defined residual strengths associated with growth of macrocracks and small faults in the specimens.     

Percolation flux and transport velocity in the unsaturated zone,Yucca Mountain,Nevada

The percolation flux for borehole USW UZ-14 was calculated from ¹⁴C residence times of pore water and water content of cores measured in the laboratory. Transport velocity is calculated from the depth interval between two points divided by the difference in ¹⁴C residence times. Two methods were used to calculate the flux and velocity. The first method uses the ¹⁴C data and cumulative water content data directly in the incremental intervals in the Paintbrush nonwelded unit and the Topopah Spring welded unit. The second method uses the regression relation for ¹⁴C data and cumulative water content data for the entire Paintbrush nonwelded unit and the Topopah Spring Tuff/Topopah Spring welded unit. Using the first method, for the Paintbrush nonwelded unit in borehole USW UZ-14 percolation flux ranges from 2.3 to 41.0 mm/a. Transport velocity ranges from 1.2 to 40.6 cm/a. For the Topopah Spring welded unit percolation flux ranges from 0.9 to 5.8 mm/a in the 8 incremental intervals calculated. Transport velocity ranges from 1.4 to 7.3 cm/a in the 8 incremental intervals. Using the second method, average percolation flux in the Paintbrush nonwelded unit for 6 boreholes ranges from 0.9 to 4.0 mm/a at the 95% confidence level. Average transport velocity ranges from 0.6 to 2.6 cm/a. For the Topopah Spring welded unit and Topopah Spring Tuff, average percolation flux in 5 boreholes ranges from 1.3 to 3.2 mm/a. Average transport velocity ranges from 1.6 to 4.0 cm/a. Both the average percolation flux and average transport velocity in the PTn are smaller than in the TS/TSw. However, the average minimum and average maximum values for the percolation flux in the TS/TSw are within the PTn average range. Therefore, differences in the percolation flux in the two units are not significant. On the other hand, average, average minimum, and average maximum transport velocities in the TS/TSw unit are all larger than the PTn values, implying a larger transport velocity for the TS/TSw although there is a small overlap.     

Feldspar dissolution rates in the Topopah Spring Tuff, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Two different field-based methods are used here to calculate feldspar dissolution rates in the Topopah Spring Tuff, the host rock for the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The center of the tuff is a high silica rhyolite, consisting largely of alkali feldspar (60 wt%) and quartz polymorphs (35 wt%) that formed by devitrification of rhyolitic glass as the tuff cooled. First, the abundance of secondary aluminosilicates is used to estimate the cumulative amount of feldspar dissolution over the history of the tuff, and an ambient dissolution rate is calculated by using the estimated thermal history. Second, the feldspar dissolution rate is calculated by using measured Sr isotope compositions for the pore water and rock. Pore waters display systematic changes in Sr isotopic composition with depth that are caused by feldspar dissolution. The range in dissolution rates determined from secondary mineral abundances varies from 10⁻¹⁶ to 10⁻¹⁷ mol s⁻¹ kg tuff⁻¹ with the largest uncertainty being the effect of the early thermal history of the tuff. Dissolution rates based on pore water Sr isotopic data were calculated by treating percolation flux parametrically, and vary from 10⁻¹⁵ to 10⁻¹⁶ mol s⁻¹ kg tuff⁻¹ for percolation fluxes of 15 mm a⁻¹ and 1 mm a⁻¹, respectively. Reconciling the rates from the two methods requires that percolation fluxes at the sampled locations be a few mm a⁻¹ or less. The calculated feldspar dissolution rates are low relative to other measured field-based feldspar dissolution rates, possibly due to the age (12.8 Ma) of the unsaturated system at Yucca Mountain; because oxidizing and organic-poor conditions limit biological activity; and/or because elevated silica concentrations in the pore waters (50 mg L⁻¹) may inhibit feldspar dissolution.     

Multiple component end-member mixing model of dilution: hydrochemical effects of construction water at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA

The standard dual-component and two-member linear mixing model is often used to quantify water mixing of different sources. However, it is no longer applicable whenever actual mixture concentrations are not exactly known because of dilution. For example, low-water-content (low-porosity) rock samples are leached for pore-water chemical compositions, which therefore are diluted in the leachates. A multicomponent, two-member mixing model of dilution has been developed to quantify mixing of water sources and multiple chemical components experiencing dilution in leaching. This extended mixing model was used to quantify fracture-matrix interaction in construction-water migration tests along the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) tunnel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA. The model effectively recovers the spatial distribution of water and chemical compositions released from the construction water, and provides invaluable data on the matrix fracture interaction. The methodology and formulations described here are applicable to many sorts of mixing-dilution problems, including dilution in petroleum reservoirs, hydrospheres, chemical constituents in rocks and minerals, monitoring of drilling fluids, and leaching, as well as to environmental science studies.     

Fluorite (U–Th)/He thermochronology: Constraints on the low temperature history of Yucca Mountain,Nevada

Fluorite is one of the secondary minerals precipitated in pore spaces at the future nuclear waste repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The authors have conducted (U–Th)/He dating of this fluorite in an attempt to constrain the temperature and timing of paleo-fluid flux into the site. Repeated analysis of colourless fluorite yielded a weighted average age of 9.7 ± 0.15 Ma (2σ), younger than previously determined sanidine ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹ Ar ages (12.8 Ma) for deposition of the tuff.Laboratory He-diffusion experiments conducted on the Yucca fluorite yield a preliminary He closure temperature (T_c) of 90 ± 10 °C (cooling rate of 10 °C/Ma) and previous studies have determined that the fluorite precipitated from warm fluids (65–80 °C) at depths of <400 m. However, minerals can experience partial He loss at temperatures well below the T_c and therefore the (U–Th)/He age of 9.7 Ma is interpreted to be a cooling age. This result implies that the last period of elevated temperature fluid circulation through the Yucca site was approximately 9.7 Ma ago.It was observed that the purple coloured outer portion of the fluorite nodule yielded non-reproducible and invariably older ages than colourless fluorite. Several possible reasons are suggested.     

Potential contaminant transport in the regional Carbonate Aquifer beneath Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA

Yucca Mountain, Nevada is the site of the proposed US geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The repository is to be a mine, sited approximately 300 m below the crest of the mountain, in a sequence of variably welded and fractured mid-Miocene rhylolite tuffs, in the unsaturated zone, approximately 300 m above the water table. Beneath the proposed repository, at a depth of 2 km, is a thick sequence of Paleozoic carbonate rocks that contain the highly transmissive Lower Carbonate Aquifer. In the area of Yucca Mountain the Carbonate Aquifer integrates groundwater flow from north of the mountain, through the Amargosa Valley, through the Funeral Mountains to Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California where the groundwater discharges in a set of large springs. Data that describe the Carbonate Aquifer suggest a concept for flow through the aquifer, and based upon the conceptual model, a one-layer numerical model was constructed to simulate groundwater flow in the Carbonate Aquifer. Advective transport analyses suggest that the predicted travel time of a particle from Yucca Mountain to Death Valley through the Carbonate Aquifer might be as short as 100 years to as long 2,000 years, depending upon the porosity.     

New techniques in rock mass classification: application to welded tuffs at the Nevada Yucca Mountain

Summary Many rock mass classification systems exist to assist the engineer in assessing the rock support requirements for underground design. On-going research in this area is directed at attempting to utilize the fractal dimension and the acoustic emission response of the tuffs at the Nevada Yucca Mountain to further aid in rock mass classification. Acoustic emission response is shown to be correlated with the porosity of the sample. Engineering behaviour of the rock varies dramatically with porosity; events and peak amplitude offer a means to distinguish between fracture porosity and pore porosity and consequently the engineering behaviour of the rock. Fractal dimension is used to characterize the roughness of fracture surfaces. Two fractal dimension calculation methods, one based on the semi-variogram for the surface and the other based on the use of dividers, are applied for this purpose. The divider method is shown to resolve deviation from a straight line; the semi-variogram method is shown to identify statistical similarity to various types of noise.Nomenclature D fractal dimension - AE acoustic emission - b b-value determined from log(frequency) against log(amplitude) plots - (h) semi-variogram function - h lag distance for semi-variogram function - H an exponent term related to fractal dimension asD=2 –H     

Conceptual model for flow separation processes affecting waste package chemical environment,Yucca Mountain,Nevada

A conceptual model for the chemical evolution of near-field water chemistry in the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada is presented. This model considers the effects of differential solubility in flowing water that is subject to evaporation or condensation. The results of a simplified numerical implementation of the model are used to predict the aqueous chemistries produced from a variety of source waters under two bounding assumptions of separation. The model predicts that, under some conditions the most soluble ions will not always be present in solution. The more soluble ions may precipitate at different locations than ions of slightly less solubility leading to a highly complex system containing different brine compositions at different locations.     

Methodology for bounding calculations of nuclear criticality of fissile material accumulations external to a waste container at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

The possibility of nuclear criticality, however remote, in the vicinity of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada generates justified concerns and may impact the performance of the repository. A heuristic approach is presented here for determining the amount, spatial distribution and other characteristics of fissile material accumulation in the rock beneath a waste package that could contribute to such an event. This study is concerned primarily with waste packages containing special spent fuel from the Department of Energy and high-level nuclear waste glass. Mixing with less alkaline waters and the subsequent drop in pH is the mechanism that is most efficient for precipitating fissile material from the waste package internal leachate, in contrast to natural deposits in which redox changes are the main precipitation driver. External accumulation size is determined by (1) computing the chemical composition of the leachate leaving a package as its internal materials degrade (with the batch geochemical code EQ3/6), (2) determining precipitation of fissile material into mineral phases (using the 1D geochemical code PHREEQC) as the effluent mixes with percolation water, and (3) heuristically scaling results to a 3D volume and computing the criticality coefficient (using the code MCNP). Loci for accumulation are the multiple lithophysal cavities and the fracture system. A bounding conservative approach is used by necessity in Step 3. Nuclear criticality is sensitive to small variations in the distribution of fissile material and parameters of natural systems vary by orders of magnitude. Because the most likely combinations of parameters are not conducive to nuclear criticality, this study focuses on extreme values of parameter probabilistic distributions, such as limited flow into the package associated with a large percolation rate, combinations of material degradation rates favoring actinide release, and very high host-rock porosity values. By considering these combinations, most favorable to criticality but unlikely, it was concluded that external nuclear criticality is not a concern at the proposed repository.