Hydrothermal conditions and resaturation times in underground openings for a nuclear waste repository in the Umtanum flow at the Basalt Waste Isolation Project

Numerical simulation techniques have been used to study heat flow and pore fluid migration in the near field of storage tunnels and canister storage holes in a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository in the Umtanum Basalt at the Basalt Waste Isolation Project site at Hanford, Washington. Particular emphasis was placed on evaluating boiling conditions in the host rock. Sensitivity studies were performed to determine the influence of variations in critical site-specific parameters which are not presently accurately known. The results indicate that, even when rather extreme values are assumed for key hydrothermal parameters, the volume of rock dried by boiling of pore fluids is negligible compared to the volume of excavated openings. The time required for saturation of backfilling materials is thus controlled by the volume of the mined excavations. When realistic values for the parameters of the natural and man-made systems are used resaturation is predicted to occur within less than two years after backfilling is placed. The approximations used in the analyses, and their limitations, are discussed in the body of the report. Recommendations are made for additional studies of the thermohydrological behavior of a high-level nuclear waste repository. 31 references, 76 figures, 7 tables.