Drift-Scale Radionuclide Transport

The purpose of this Model Report is to document two models for drift-scale radionuclide transport. This has been developed in accordance with ''Technical Work Plan for: Performance Assessment Unsaturated Zone'' (Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC (BSC) 2002 [160819]), which includes planning documents for the technical work scope, content, and management of this Model Report in Section 1.15, Work Package AUZM11, ''Drift-Scale Radionuclide Transport.'' The technical work scope for this Model Report calls for development of a process-level model and an abstraction model representing diffusive release from the invert to the rocks, partitioned between fracture and matrix, as compared to the fracture-release approach used in the Site Recommendation. The invert is the structure constructed in a drift to provide the floor of that drift. The plan for validation of the models documented in this Model Report is given in Section I-5 of Attachment I in BSC (2002 [160819]). Note that the model validation presented in Section 7 deviates from the technical work plan (BSC 2002 [160819], Section I-5) in that an independent technical review specifically for model validation has not been conducted, nor publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Model validation presented in Section 7 is based on corroboration with alternative mathematical models,more » which is also called out by the technical work plan (BSC 2002 [160819], Section I-5), and is sufficient based on the requirements of AP-SIII.10Q for model validation. See Section 7 for additional discussion. The phenomenon of flow and transport in the vicinity of the waste emplacement drift are evaluated in this model report under ambient thermal, chemical, and mechanical conditions. This includes the effects of water diversion around an emplacement drift and the flow and transport behavior expected in a fractured rock below the drift. The reason for a separate assessment of drift-scale transport is that the effects of waste emplacement drifts on flow are not captured in the flow fields used for radionuclide transport at the mountain scale (''UZ Flow Models and Submodels'', BSC 2003 [163045]).« less