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Title: Chlorine-36 investigations of groundwater infiltration in the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Abstract

Chlorine-36, including the natural cosmogenic component and the component produced during atmospheric nuclear testing in the 1950`s and 1960`s (bomb pulse), is being used as an isotopic tracer for groundwater infiltration studies at Yucca Mountain, a potential nuclear waste repository. Rock samples have been collected systematically in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF), and samples were also collected from fractures, faults, and breccia zones. Isotopic ratios indicative of bomb-pulse components in the water ({sup 36}Cl/Cl values > 1,250 x 10{sup {minus}15}), signifying less than 40-yr travel times from the surface, have been detected at a few locations within the Topopah Spring Tuff, the candidate host rock for the repository. The specific features associated with the high {sup 36}Cl/Cl values are predominantly cooling joints and syngenetic breccias, but most of the sites are in the general vicinity of faults. The non-bomb pulse samples have {sup 36}Cl/Cl values interpreted to indicate groundwater travel times of at least a few thousand to possibly several hundred thousand years. Preliminary numerical solute-travel experiments using the FEHM (Finite Element Heat and Mass transfer) code demonstrate consistency between these interpreted ages and the observed {sup 36}Cl/Cl values but do not validate the interpretations.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
555352
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-97-3284; CONF-961202-
ON: DE98001319; TRN: 98:008942
DOE Contract Number:  
W-7405-ENG-36
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Conference: 1996 Fall meeting of the Materials Research Society (MRS), Boston, MA (United States), 2-6 Dec 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1997]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
05 NUCLEAR FUELS; RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES; HYDROLOGY; YUCCA MOUNTAIN; SITE CHARACTERIZATION; TRACER TECHNIQUES; CHLORINE 36; GROUND WATER; WATER INFLUX; ISOTOPE RATIO; F CODES; HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL; EXPERIMENTAL DATA

Citation Formats

Levy, S S, Fabryka-Martin, J T, Dixon, P R, Liu, B, Turin, H J, and Wolfsberg, A V. Chlorine-36 investigations of groundwater infiltration in the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. United States: N. p., 1997. Web. doi:10.2172/555352.
Levy, S S, Fabryka-Martin, J T, Dixon, P R, Liu, B, Turin, H J, & Wolfsberg, A V. Chlorine-36 investigations of groundwater infiltration in the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/555352
Levy, S S, Fabryka-Martin, J T, Dixon, P R, Liu, B, Turin, H J, and Wolfsberg, A V. 1997. "Chlorine-36 investigations of groundwater infiltration in the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/555352. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/555352.
@article{osti_555352,
title = {Chlorine-36 investigations of groundwater infiltration in the Exploratory Studies Facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada},
author = {Levy, S S and Fabryka-Martin, J T and Dixon, P R and Liu, B and Turin, H J and Wolfsberg, A V},
abstractNote = {Chlorine-36, including the natural cosmogenic component and the component produced during atmospheric nuclear testing in the 1950`s and 1960`s (bomb pulse), is being used as an isotopic tracer for groundwater infiltration studies at Yucca Mountain, a potential nuclear waste repository. Rock samples have been collected systematically in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF), and samples were also collected from fractures, faults, and breccia zones. Isotopic ratios indicative of bomb-pulse components in the water ({sup 36}Cl/Cl values > 1,250 x 10{sup {minus}15}), signifying less than 40-yr travel times from the surface, have been detected at a few locations within the Topopah Spring Tuff, the candidate host rock for the repository. The specific features associated with the high {sup 36}Cl/Cl values are predominantly cooling joints and syngenetic breccias, but most of the sites are in the general vicinity of faults. The non-bomb pulse samples have {sup 36}Cl/Cl values interpreted to indicate groundwater travel times of at least a few thousand to possibly several hundred thousand years. Preliminary numerical solute-travel experiments using the FEHM (Finite Element Heat and Mass transfer) code demonstrate consistency between these interpreted ages and the observed {sup 36}Cl/Cl values but do not validate the interpretations.},
doi = {10.2172/555352},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/555352}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1997},
month = {Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1997}
}