Thermal-Hydrologic-Mechanical Study of Pre-Closure Off-Normal Thermal Scenarios at the Proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository

Leem, J. ; Lin, M. ; Sun, Y. ; Kicker, D.

United States. Department of Energy. Yucca Mountain Project Office.

关键词: Removal;    Heat Transfer;    Positioning;    Radioactive Wastes;    Wastes;   

DOI  :  10.2172/838907
RP-ID  :  NONE
RP-ID  :  NONE
RP-ID  :  838907

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada currently includes a minimum of 50 years forced ventilation inside of emplacement drifts prior to repository closure. To regulate the heat generated from emplaced waste packages, the ventilation during the pre-closure period should be continuous. Off-normal thermal scenarios that consider temporary shutdown of the pre-closure ventilation are investigated to determine the impacts of ventilation shutdown on the thermal-hydrologic-mechanical behaviors of the emplacement drifts. In-drift heat transfer processes including radiation, convection, and conduction are studied. The analysis provides a ventilation heat removal ratio that varies on the drift location and the ventilation duration. The heat removal ratio is transferred and utilized in the NUFT thermal-hydrology software. The NUFT software is used to investigate the thermal-hydrologic impacts on the repository rock mass for the off-normal thermal scenarios with various shutdown durations at various pre-closure times. The predicted rock mass temperature evaluated from the thermal-hydrologic analysis is applied for the thermal-mechanical analysis of the off-normal thermal scenarios. The results show that degradation and rockfall of the emplacement drifts due to the off-normal thermal scenarios will be minimal, and it is concluded that the impacts of off-normal thermal scenarios on the stability of the emplacement drifts will be insignificant.