Fuel Cycle Programs, Quarterly Progress Report: April-June 1982

Logging techniques are being developed to measure the relative amount of residual oil in a depleted oil reservoir by injecting gamma-active solution into it. Laboratory analog experiments are being done to examine the extent to which radioactivity might move from a nuclear waste repository because of flowing groundwater. The composition and transport of saline pore fluids in granite cores from northern Illinois and from the Canadian Shield were studied. Testing and development of equipment for the destructive analysis of full-length irradiated fuel rods from the Light Water Breeder Reactor is in progress. Work has been done on: (1) the full-scale shear, (2) the dual dissolver system, (3) scrap and waste disposal, (4) the data management system, and (5) analytical systems. Contributions to an information base that will be used in an analysis of the status of the disposal of airborne wastes from the nuclear fuel cycle include (1) development of packaging for deep geologic disposal, (2) review of practices in the packaging of LLW, (3) review of ocean disposal of LLW and HLW, (4) comparison of regulations and criteria from several sources for deep geologic disposal, (5) shallow-land burial and its regulation, and (6) regulations on packaging for transportation ofmore » radioactive materials. Simulated-flow and true-flow leach tests were compared to develop an understanding of their differing characteristics, with emphasis on leach rates and concentrations of leached species in the effluent leachates. Two leach rate models were analyzed: (1) constant leach rate independent of concentrations of leached species in the leachates and (2) variable leach rate dependent on such concentrations.« less