Publications

Evaluation of Nuclear Spent Fuel Disposal in Clay-Bearing Rock - Process Model Development and Experimental Studies (M2SF-21SN010301072)

Jove Colon, Carlos F.; Ho, Tuan A.; Coker, Eric N.; Lopez, Carlos M.; Kuhlman, Kristopher L.; Sanchez, Amanda C.; Mills, Melissa M.; Kruichak, Jessica N.; Matteo, Edward N.; Rutqvist, Jonny R.; Guglielmi, Yves G.; Sasaki, Tsubasa S.; Deng, Hang D.; Li, Pei L.; Steefel, Carl S.; Tournassat, Christophe T.; Xu, Hao X.; Babhulgaonkar, Shaswat B.; Birkholzer, Jens T.; Sauer, Kirsten B.; Caporuscio, Florie C.; Rock, Marlena J.; Zavarin, Mavrik Z.; Wolery, Thomas J.; Chang, Elliot C.; Wainwright, Haruko W.

The DOE R&D program under the Spent Fuel Waste Science Technology (SFWST) campaign has made key progress in modeling and experimental approaches towards the characterization of chemical and physical phenomena that could impact the long-term safety assessment of heatgenerating nuclear waste disposition in deep-seated clay/shale/argillaceous rock. International collaboration activities such as heater tests, continuous field data monitoring, and postmortem analysis of samples recovered from these have elucidated key information regarding changes in the engineered barrier system (EBS) material exposed to years of thermal loads. Chemical and structural analyses of sampled bentonite material from such tests as well as experiments conducted on these are key to the characterization of thermal effects affecting bentonite clay barrier performance and the extent of sacrificial zones in the EBS during the thermal period. Thermal, hydrologic, and chemical data collected from heater tests and laboratory experiments has been used in the development, validation, and calibration of THMC simulators to model near-field coupled processes. This information leads to the development of simulation approaches (e.g., continuum and discrete) to tackle issues related to flow and transport at various scales of the host-rock, its interactions with barrier materials, and EBS design concept.