干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Unsaturated-zone fast-path flow calculations for Yucca Mountain groundwater travel time analyses (GWTT-94)

Arid

DOI	10.2172/125424
报告编号	SAND--95-0857
来源ID	OSTI_ID: 125424
	Unsaturated-zone fast-path flow calculations for Yucca Mountain groundwater travel time analyses (GWTT-94)
	Arnold, B.W.; Altman, S.J. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; Robey, T.H. [Spectra Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM (United States)] [and others]
英文摘要	Evaluation of groundwater travel time (GWTT) is required as part of the investigation of the suitability of Yucca Mountain as a potential high-level nuclear-waste repository site. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s GWTT regulation is considered to be a measure of the intrinsic ability of the site to contain radionuclide releases from the repository. The work reported here is the first step in a program to provide an estimate of GWTT at the Yucca Mountain site in support of the DOE`s Technical Site Suitability and as a component of a license application. Preliminary estimation of the GWTT distribution in the unsaturated zone was accomplished using a numerical model of the physical processes of groundwater flow in the fractured, porous medium of the bedrock. Based on prior investigations of groundwater flow at the site, fractures are thought to provide the fastest paths for groundwater flow; conditions that lead to flow in fractures were investigated and simulated. Uncertainty in the geologic interpretation of Yucca Mountain was incorporated through the use of geostatistical simulations, while variability of hydrogeologic parameters within each unit was accounted for by the random sampling of parameter probability density functions. The composite-porosity formulation of groundwater flow was employed to simulate flow in both the matrix and fracture domains. In this conceptualization, the occurrence of locally saturated conditions within the unsaturated zone is responsible for the initiation of fast-path flow through fractures. The results of the GWTT-94 study show that heterogeneity in the hydraulic properties of the model domain is an important factor in simulating local regions of high groundwater saturation. Capillary-pressure conditions at the surface boundary influence the extent of the local saturation simulated.
出版年	1995
报告类型	Technical Report
语种	英语
国家	美国
来源学科分类	05 NUCLEAR FUELS ; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ; YUCCA MOUNTAIN ; UNDERGROUND FACILITIES ; SITE CHARACTERIZATION ; HYDROLOGY ; HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES ; UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL ; SPENT FUELS ; GROUND WATER ; FLOW RATE ; GEOLOGIC FRACTURES ; FLUID FLOW ; TUFF ; Yucca Mountain Project
URL	http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/125424
资源类型	科技报告
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/266256
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Arnold, B.W.,Altman, S.J. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM ,Robey, T.H. [Spectra Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM . Unsaturated-zone fast-path flow calculations for Yucca Mountain groundwater travel time analyses (GWTT-94),1995.