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DOE consortium begins new initiative aimed at growing fuel cycle
The U.S Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, through its Defense Production Act (DPA) Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consortium, has begun a new initiative aimed at securing the nation’s nuclear fuel supply chain.
R. N. Nair, T. M. Krishnamoorthy
Nuclear Technology | Volume 114 | Number 2 | May 1996 | Pages 235-245
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35252
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Mathematical models have been developed to predict the spatial and temporal profiles of radionuclide concentration in the near field and far field of a shallow land burial facility. The disposal facility considered is a reinforced concrete vault located 2.9 m above the water table. The source term is derived from leaching considerations based on diffusion-controlled kinetics for the transfer of radionuclides from the cylindrical waste form into the surrounding pore water of the backfill material. The concentration of radionuclides in the backfill at the bottom boundary of the vault is converted to a release rate into the near field using the outgoing water flux. The delay and decay during transit in the sand and soil layers are taken into account while evaluating the concentration and release at the near field-water table boundary. Using this release rate as the inlet flux, the concentration of radionuclides in the groundwater has been computed using a two-dimensional model. Results indicate that the vault facility with cement as the backfill material could contain almost all the radionuclides commonly encountered in the waste stream generated during the operation of nuclear power plants. However, the storage of some of the long-lived radionuclides produced in fuel reprocessing plants such as 79Se, 99Tc and 129I in the vault facility need to be regulated for restricting the resultant dose within the apportioned dose limit prescribed for the facility.