An experimental investigation was conducted for gas generation in contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) wastes subjected for several years to conditions similar to those expected to occur at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) should the repository eventually become inundated with brine. Various types of actual CH-TRU wastes were placed into 12 corrosion-resistant vessels. The vessels were loosely filled with the wastes, which were submerged in synthetic brine having the same chemical composition as that in the WIPP vicinity. The vessels were also inoculated with microbes found in the Salado Formation at WIPP. The vessels were sealed, purged, and the approximately 750-ml headspace in each vessel was pressurized with nitrogen gas to approximately 146 atmospheres to create anoxic conditions at the lithostatic pressure estimated in the repository were it to be inundated. The temperature was maintained at the expected 30DGC. The test program objective was to measure the quantities and species of gases generated by metal corrosion, radiolysis, and microbial activity. These data will assist in the specification of the rates at which gases are produced under inundated repository conditions for use in the WIPP Performance Assessment computer models.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
