Nuclear Waste Management Program Chemical Processes Department

Focus

The Nuclear Waste Management Program Chemical Processes Department investigates the release and transport of radioactive and hazardous materials through the geosphere. During the past decade, the department has provided the technical lead for site characterization and studies of potential radionuclide release and transport from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southeastern New Mexico. Our work has been instrumental in receiving regulatory compliance certification from the U.S. EPA in 1998. Other DOE-sponsored work includes development of coupled chemical reaction/transport computer models for the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project and studies of natural attenuation of uranium transport for the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Program. The department has developed experimental and computational capabilities that can be applied to environmental problems that span a range of spatial and temporal scales. The variety of experimental and modeling capabilities present within the department is currently oriented toward:

• Colloid-facilitated radionuclide transport.
• Adsorption of trace metals and radionuclides on a variety of minerals including carbonates, clay minerals, iron oxides and hydroxides, silicates, zeolites, and tuff.
• Radionuclide and hazardous chemical transport through saturated rock cores and unsaturates soil.
• Solubility and control of solubility of actinides and hazardous metals in brines and groundwater.
• Analysis of brine flow and actinide/chemical transport in low-permeability materials.
• Modeling of multicomponent solute transport with coupled chemical reaction-transport computer codes.

The scope of department activities are reflected in the following figure. It includes synergistic activities with other Sandia departments and other national laboratories and universities for research on site design, waste characterization, hydrology, and seal technology. Department research focuses on repository and transport chemistry, contaminant transport and containment.

Contact

John Holmes, Manager
WIPP Chemical & Disposal Room Processes Department
Sandia National Laboratories
P.O. Box 5800 MS 1341
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185-1341

Tel: 505-848-0876
Fax: 505-848-0881
e-mail: jtholme@sandia.gov