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1.
《Applied Geochemistry》1994,9(6):713-732
At the Nopal I uranium deposit, primary uraninite (nominally UO2+x) has altered almost completely to a suite of secondary uranyl minerals. The deposit is located in a Basin and Range horst composed of welded silicic tuff; uranium mineralization presently occurs in a chemically oxidizing and hydrologically unsaturated zone of the structural block. These characteristics are similar to those of the proposed U.S. high-level nuclear waste (HLW) repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Petrographic analyses indicate that residual Nopal I uraninite is fine grained (5–10 μm) and has a low trace element content (average about 3 wt%). These characteristics compare well with spent nuclear fuel. The oxidation and formation of secondary minerals from the uraninite have occurred in an environment dominated by components common in host rocks of the Nopal I system (e.g. Si, Ca, K, Na and H2O) and also common to Yucca Mountain. In contrast, secondary phases in most other uranium deposits form from elements largely absent from spent fuel and from the Yucca Mountain environment (e.g. Pb, P and V). The oxidation of Nopal I uraninite and the sequence of alteration products, their intergrowths and morphologies are remarkably similar to those observed in reported corrosion experiments using spent fuel and unirradiated UO2 under conditions intended to approximate those anticipated for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. The end products of these reported laboratory experiments and the natural alteration of Nopal I uraninite are dominated by uranophane [nominally Ca(UO2)2Si2O7·6H2O] with lesser amounts of soddyite [nominally (UO2)2SiO4·2H2O] and other uranyl minerals. These similarities in reaction product occurrence developed despite the differences in time and physical—chemical environment between Yucca Mountain-approximate laboratory experiments and Yucca Mountain-approximate uraninite alteration at Nopal I, suggesting that the results may reasonably represent phases likely to form during long-term alteration of spent fuel in a Yucca Mountain repository. From this analogy, it may be concluded that the likely compositional ranges of dominant spent fuel alteration phases in the Yucca Mountain environment may be relatively limited and may be insensitive to small variations in system conditions. 相似文献
2.
Chih -Hsiang Ho 《Mathematical Geology》1995,27(2):239-258
Both advocates and critics disagree on the significance and interpretation of critical geological features which relate to the safety and suitability of Yucca Mountain as a site for the construction of a high-level radioactive waste repository. Recent volcanism in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain is recognized readily by geologists and others with a knowledge of nuclear regulatory requirements as an important factor in determining future public and environmental safety. We regard basaltic volcanism as direct and unequivocal evidence of deep-seated geologic instability. Direct disruption of a repository site by basaltic volcanism therefore is a possibility. In this paper, sensitivity analysis of volcanic hazard assessment for the Yucca Mountain site is performed, taking into account some significant geological factors raised by experts. Three types of models are considered in the sensitivity data analysis. The first model assumes that both past and future volcanic activities follow a Homogeneous Poisson Process (HPP). The second model uses a Weibull Process (WP) to estimate the instantaneous recurrence rate based on the historical data at NTS (the Nevada Test Site). The model then switches from a WP of past events to a predictive HPP. The third model assumes that the prior historical trend based on a WP would continue for future activities. Hazards (at least one disruptive event during the next 10,000 years) using both classical and Bayesian approaches are evaluated based on the data for the following two observation periods: Pliocene and younger, and Quaternary. Combinations of various counts of events at volcanic centers of controversy and inclusion (or exclusion) of the youngest date at Lathrop Wells Center (=0.01 Ma) generate 90 different data sets. Sensitivity analysis is performed for each data set and the minimum and the maximum hazards for each model are summarized. We conclude that the estimated overall probability of at least one disruption of a repository at the Yucca Mountain site by basaltic volcanism during the next 10,000 years is bounded between 2.02×105 and 6.57×10–3. 相似文献
3.
Yucca Mountain, the proposed site for the high-level nuclear waste repository, is located just south of where the present
water table begins a sharp rise in elevation. This large hydraulic gradient is a regional feature that extends for over 100 km.
Yucca Mountain and its vicinity are underlain by faulted and fractured tuffs with hydraulic conductivities controlled by flow
through the fractures. Close to and parallel with the region of large hydraulic gradient, and surrounding the core of the
Timber Mountain Caldera, there is a 10- to 20-km-wide zone containing few faults and thus, most likely, few open fractures.
Consequently, this zone should have a relatively low hydraulic conductivity, and this inference is supported by the available
conductivity measurements in wells near the large hydraulic gradient. Also, slug injection tests indicate significantly higher
pressures for fracture opening in wells located near the large hydraulic gradient compared to the opening pressures in wells
further to the south, hence implying that lower extensional stresses prevail to the north with consequently fewer open fractures
there. Analytical and numerical modeling shows that such a boundary between media of high and low conductivity can produce
the observed, large hydraulic gradient, with the high conductivity medium having a lower elevation than the water table. Further,
as fractures can close due to tectonic activity, the conductivity of the Yucca Mountain tuffs can be reduced to a value near
that for the hydraulic barrier due to strain release by a moderate earthquake. Under these conditions, simulations show that
the elevation of the steady-state water table could rise between 150 and 250 m at the repository site. This elevation rise
is due to the projected shift in the location of the large hydraulic gradient to the south in response to a moderate earthquake,
near magnitude 6, along one of the major normal faults adjacent to Yucca Mountain. As the proposed repository would only be
200–400 m above the present water table, this predicted rise in the water table indicates a potential hazard involving water
intrusion.
Received: 7 June 1996 / Accepted: 19 November 1996 相似文献
4.
《Applied Geochemistry》2006,21(6):859-869
A conceptual model for the chemical evolution of near-field water chemistry in the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada is presented. This model considers the effects of differential solubility in flowing water that is subject to evaporation or condensation. The results of a simplified numerical implementation of the model are used to predict the aqueous chemistries produced from a variety of source waters under two bounding assumptions of separation. The model predicts that, under some conditions the most soluble ions will not always be present in solution. The more soluble ions may precipitate at different locations than ions of slightly less solubility leading to a highly complex system containing different brine compositions at different locations. 相似文献
5.
Chih-Hsiang Ho 《Mathematical Geology》1992,24(4):347-364
In this article, we model the volcanism near the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, U.S.A. by estimating the instantaneous recurrence rate using a nonhomogeneous Poisson process with Weibull intensity and by using a homogeneous Poisson process to predict future eruptions. We then quantify the probability that any single eruption is disruptive in terms of a (prior) probability distribution, since not every eruption would result in disruption of the repository. Bayesian analysis is performed to evaluate the volcanic risk. Based on the Quaternary data, a 90% confidence interval for the instantaneous recurrence rate near the Yucca Mountain site is (1.85×10–6/yr, 1.26×10–5/yr). Also, using-these confidence bounds, the corresponding 90% confidence interval for the risk (probability of at least one disruptive eruption) for an isolation time of 104 years is (1.0×10–3, 6.7×10–3), if it is assumed that the intensity remains constant during the projected time frame. 相似文献
6.
Yucca Mountain, Nevada is the site of the proposed US geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The repository is to be a mine, sited approximately 300 m below the crest of the mountain, in a sequence of variably welded and fractured mid-Miocene rhylolite tuffs, in the unsaturated zone, approximately 300 m above the water table. Beneath the proposed repository, at a depth of 2 km, is a thick sequence of Paleozoic carbonate rocks that contain the highly transmissive Lower Carbonate Aquifer. In the area of Yucca Mountain the Carbonate Aquifer integrates groundwater flow from north of the mountain, through the Amargosa Valley, through the Funeral Mountains to Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California where the groundwater discharges in a set of large springs. Data that describe the Carbonate Aquifer suggest a concept for flow through the aquifer, and based upon the conceptual model, a one-layer numerical model was constructed to simulate groundwater flow in the Carbonate Aquifer. Advective transport analyses suggest that the predicted travel time of a particle from Yucca Mountain to Death Valley through the Carbonate Aquifer might be as short as 100 years to as long 2,000 years, depending upon the porosity. 相似文献
7.
A new conceptual model for release rate of radionuclides from the proposed repository for high level nuclear waste located at Yucca Mountain, Nevada is developed. The model predicts that heat generated from radioactive decay combined with the unsaturated environment will lead to an inward flow system that, under many relevant conditions, will slow the release of and sometimes sequester radionuclides at locations of higher heat release and lower water percolation. The amount of protection will be greatest for more concentrated waste forms such as spent fuel and less for glass waste forms. The redistribution and concentration of the radionuclides is anticipated to significantly delay radionuclide release and create a tendency towards gradual release over time that is independent of localized penetrations of metallic barriers. 相似文献
8.
《Applied Geochemistry》2002,17(6):659-682
This paper provides a geologic and hydrologic framework of the Yucca Mountain region for the geochemical papers in this volume. The regional geologic units, which range in age from late Precambrian through Holocene, are briefly described. Yucca Mountain is composed of dominantly pyroclastic units that range in age from 11.4 to 15.2 Ma. The principal focus of study has been on the Paintbrush Group, which includes two major zoned and welded ash-flow tuffs separated by an important hydrogeologic unit referred to as the Paintbrush non-welded (PTn). The regional structural setting is currently one of extension, and the major local tectonic domains are presented together with a tectonic model that is consistent with the known structures at Yucca Mountain. Streamflow in this arid to semi-arid region occurs principally in intermittent or ephemeral channels. Near Yucca Mountain, the channels of Fortymile Wash and Amargosa River collect infrequent runoff from tributary basins, ultimately draining to Death Valley. Beneath the surface, large-scale interbasin flow of groundwater from one valley to another occurs commonly in the region. Regional groundwater flow beneath Yucca Mountain originates in the high mesas to the north and returns to the surface either in southern Amargosa Desert or in Death Valley, where it is consumed by evapotranspiration. The water table is very deep beneath the upland areas such as Yucca Mountain, where it is 500–750 m below the land surface, providing a large thickness of unsaturated rocks that are potentially suitable to host a nuclear-waste repository. The nature of unsaturated flow processes, which are important for assessing radionuclide migration, are inferred mainly from hydrochemical or isotopic evidence, from pneumatic tests of the fracture systems, and from the results of in situ experiments. Water seeping down through the unsaturated zone flows rapidly through fractures and more slowly through the pores of the rock matrix. Although capillary forces are expected to divert much of the flow around repository openings, some may drip onto waste packages, ultimately causing release of radionuclides, followed by transport down to the water table. 相似文献
9.
Assessing the shear behavior of intact rock and rock fractures is an important issue in the design of a potential nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Cyclic direct shear experiments were conducted on replicas of three natural fractures and a laboratory-developed tensile fracture of welded tuff. The tests were carried out under constant normal loads or constant normal stiffnesses with different initial normal load levels. Each test consisted of five cycles of forward and reverse shear motion. In this paper, the results of the constant normal load shear experiments are analyzed using several constitutive models proposed in the rock mechanics literature for joint shear strength, dilatancy, and joint surface damage. It is shown that some of the existing models have limitations. New constitutive models are proposed and are included in a mathematical analysis tool that can be used to predict joint behavior under various boundary conditions. © Rapid Science Ltd. 1998 相似文献
10.
Yu-Shu Wu Guoping Lu Keni Zhang Lehua Pan Gudmundur S. Bodvarsson 《Hydrogeology Journal》2007,15(3):553-572
Characterizing percolation patterns in unsaturated fractured rock has posed a greater challenge to modeling investigations than comparable saturated zone studies due to the heterogeneous nature of unsaturated media and the great number of variables impacting unsaturated flow. An integrated modeling methodology has been developed for quantitatively characterizing percolation patterns in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada (USA), a proposed underground repository site for storing high-level radioactive waste. The approach integrates moisture, pneumatic, thermal, and isotopic geochemical field data into a comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model for analyses. It takes into account the coupled processes of fluid and heat flow and chemical isotopic transport in Yucca Mountain’s highly heterogeneous, unsaturated fractured tuffs. Modeling results are examined against different types of field-measured data and then used to evaluate different hydrogeological conceptualizations through analyzing flow patterns in the unsaturated zone. In particular, this model provides clearer understanding of percolation patterns and flow behavior through the unsaturated zone, both crucial issues in assessing repository performance. The integrated approach for quantifying Yucca Mountain’s flow system is demonstrated to provide a practical modeling tool for characterizing flow and transport processes in complex subsurface systems. 相似文献
11.
12.
The chemical, isotopic and mineralogical alteration which occurred during primary uranium ore deposition at the breccia pipe-hosted Osamu Utsumi mine, Poços de Caldas, Brazil was studied as a natural analogue for near field radionuclide migration. Chemical and isotopic alteration models were combined with finite difference models of the convective cooling of caldera intrusives. The modeling indicates that the intense chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical alteration of the Osamu Utsumi breccia pipe requires the circulation of > 105 kg/cm2 of boiling hydrothermal fluid > 200°C through each square centimeter cross-section of the pipe. This circulation could be driven by heat from a 6 km diameter intrusive extending to 10 km depth. Even with this large amount of circulation concentrated in the permeable breccia pipe, uranium solubilities must be
orders of magnitude greater than indicated in the most recent experiments (and more in line with previous estimates) to produce the primary uranium mineralization at the Osamu Utsumi mine.The same models applied to a hypothetical high temperature waste repository show that heat from radioactive decay will produce a hydrothermal circulation system remarkably similar to that studied at the natural analogue site at Poços de Caldas. The depth of fluid convection induced by the hypothetical repository would be 5 to 10 km, the maximum temperature would be 300°C, the lifetime of the high temperature phase would be a few thousand years, and boiling would occur and cause most of the alteration within the hypothetical waste repository. This physical analysis emphasizes the importance of permeability on a 10 × 10 × 10 km scale in controlling the potential amount of circulation through the hypothetical repository.Application of the chemical models successfully used to interpret mineralization and alteration at the Poços de Caldas Osamu Utsumi mine to the hypothetical waste repository shows that even in a worst case scenario (waste implaced in a permeable host rock with no measures taken to inhibit flow though the repository) the amount of hydrothermal alteration in the hypothetical repository will be 0.1% of that in the breccia pipe at Osamu Utsumi. Assuming no barriers to uranium mobility, uranium precipitation above the hypothetical repository would be 0.04 ppm (rather than 40 ppm), hydrothermal alteration 0.03 wt% (rather than 30 wt%), etc.Our analysis indicates that modeled mineralogical alteration is sensitive to the thermodynamic data base used. Prediction of mineralogical alteration (which may be necessary to predict the migration of radionuclides other than uranium, for example) probably cannot be based directly on even very carefully collected laboratory thermodynamic data. Mineralogical complexities of the system, as well as data base uncertainties will require calibration of the thermodynamic framework against mineralogical alteration observed in the laboratory or field. 相似文献
13.
Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada is being evaluated as a potential site for the geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste. A reliable assessment of the future performance of the repository will require detailed paleohydrogeological information. Hydrogenic secondary minerals from the vadose zone of Yucca Mountain are being studied as paleohydrogeological indicators. A phenomenological model envisaging the deposition of secondary minerals by meteoric fluids infiltrating downward though the vadose zone was proposed in the reviewed paper. Our evaluation reveals that the model is not supported by empiric evidence reported in the paper. 相似文献
14.
内蒙古多伦县核桃坝地区火山岩型铀成矿特征及找矿标志 总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2
核桃坝位于内蒙古多伦县与正蓝旗接壤部位,位于内蒙古海西褶皱带和华北陆块北缘接触部位,新发现的铀矿产于晚侏罗世早白垩世榛子山火山机构南部弧形火山隆起带酸性火山岩中,为与中生代火山岩有关的热液型铀矿化。近年来,该区铀矿找矿勘查和成矿研究取得了一定突破,核桃坝铀矿点扩大为小型铀矿床,初步认为受流纹斑岩次火山岩体、SNNE向构造控制的隐伏铀矿化。综合调查发现,中生代火山机构隆起与洼陷过渡带中火山构造与控盆、控岩(次火山岩)断裂构造交汇处为铀矿化有利区;高岭土化、钾化、硅化、褐铁矿化构造蚀变带,土壤瞬时氡气异常晕(带),物探测量反演的高阻和磁化率陡变部位等多指标组合构成了铀矿化找矿标志。 相似文献
15.
The uranium deposits of Bulgaria related to the Late Alpine tectonomagmatic reactivation are subdivided into two groups: exogenic–epigenetic paleovalley deposits related to the basins filled with upper Eocene–lower Oligocene volcanic–sedimentary rocks and the hydrothermal deposits hosted in the coeval depressions. The geological and lithofacies conditions of their localization, the epigenetic alteration of rocks, mineralogy and geochemistry of uranium ore are exemplified in thoroughly studied paleovalley deposits of the Maritsa ore district. Argumentation of the genetic concepts providing insights into both sedimentation–diagenetic and exogenic–epigenetic mineralization with development of stratal oxidation zones is discussed. A new exfiltration model has been proposed to explain the origin of the aforementioned deposits on the basis of additional analysis with consideration of archival factual data and possible causes of specific ningyoite uranium ore composition. 相似文献
16.
We present a 3-D Poisson model that permits identification and quantification of volcanic phenomena distributed through space and evolving in time (i.e., spatiotemporal data). Specifically, the model: (1) is volcanologically informative in solving problems of volcanic risk/hazard which depends on the location and time of future events; (2) contains model fitting computation algorithms that are efficient; and (3) is flexible enough to handle a large class of volcanic risk/hazard studies. Furthermore, we apply the model fitting techniques developed in this paper to the volcanic data from the Yucca Mountain project to demonstrate a unified volcanic hazard analysis. This study also evaluates the sensitivity of the statistical models developed by experts who have addressed the volcanic hazard/risk assessment problem near the Yucca Mountain region. 相似文献
17.
《Applied Geochemistry》2002,17(6):751-779
Uranium concentrations and 234U/238U ratios in saturated-zone and perched ground water were used to investigate hydrologic flow and downgradient dilution and dispersion in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, a potential high-level radioactive waste disposal site. The U data were obtained by thermal ionization mass spectrometry on more than 280 samples from the Death Valley regional flow system. Large variations in both U concentrations (commonly 0.6–10 μg l−1) and 234U/238U activity ratios (commonly 1.5–6) are present on both local and regional scales; however, ground water with 234U/238U activity ratios from 7 up to 8.06 is restricted largely to samples from Yucca Mountain. Data from ground water in the Tertiary volcanic and Quaternary alluvial aquifers at and adjacent to Yucca Mountain plot in 3 distinct fields of reciprocal U concentration versus 234U/238U activity ratio correlated to different geographic areas. Ground water to the west of Yucca Mountain has large U concentrations and moderate 234U/238U whereas ground water to the east in the Fortymile flow system has similar 234U/238U, but distinctly smaller U concentrations. Ground water beneath the central part of Yucca Mountain has intermediate U concentrations but distinctive 234U/238U activity ratios of about 7–8. Perched water from the lower part of the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain has similarly large values of 234U/238U. These U data imply that the Tertiary volcanic aquifer beneath the central part of Yucca Mountain is isolated from north-south regional flow. The similarity of 234U/238U in both saturated- and unsaturated-zone ground water at Yucca Mountain further indicates that saturated-zone ground water beneath Yucca Mountain is dominated by local recharge rather than regional flow. The distinctive 234U/238U signatures also provide a natural tracer of downgradient flow. Elevated 234U/238U in ground water from two water-supply wells east of Yucca Mountain are interpreted as the result of induced flow from 40 a of ground-water withdrawal. Elevated 234U/238U in a borehole south of Yucca Mountain is interpreted as evidence that natural downgradient flow is more likely to follow southerly paths in the structurally anisotropic Tertiary volcanic aquifer where it becomes diluted by regional flow in the Fortymile system. 相似文献
18.
19.
L. A. Neymark J. B. Paces B. D. Marshall Z. E. Peterman J. F. Whelan 《Environmental Geology》2005,48(4-5):450-465
Calcite-rich soils (calcrete) in alluvium and colluvium at Solitario Wash, Crater Flat, Nevada, USA, contain pedogenic calcite
and opaline silica similar to soils present elsewhere in the semi-arid southwestern United States. Nevertheless, a ground-water
discharge origin for the Solitario Wash soil deposits was proposed in a series of publications proposing elevation-dependent
variations of carbon and oxygen isotopes in calcrete samples. Discharge of ground water in the past would raise the possibility
of future flooding in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site of a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository.
New geochemical and carbon, oxygen, strontium, and uranium-series isotopic data disprove the presence of systematic elevation-isotopic
composition relations, which are the main justification given for a proposed ground-water discharge origin of the calcrete
deposits at Solitario Wash. Values of δ13C (−4.1 to −7.8 per mil [‰]), δ18O (23.8–17.2‰), 87Sr/86Sr (0.71270–0.71146), and initial 234U/238U activity ratios of about 1.6 in the new calcrete samples are within ranges previously observed in pedogenic carbonate deposits
at Yucca Mountain and are incompatible with a ground-water origin for the calcrete. Variations in carbon and oxygen isotopes
in Solitario Wash calcrete likely are caused by pedogenic deposition from meteoric water under varying Quaternary climatic
conditions over hundreds of thousands of years. 相似文献
20.
毛洋头火山岩铀（银、钼）矿床的控矿因素及成因 总被引：6，自引：1，他引：6
毛尖头铀矿床，是产于早白垩世晚期火山中的火山岩型矿床。基底构造和岩浆活化对矿床的形成起明显的控制作用，研究认为，该矿床成矿热液早期为岩浆水，晚期为大气降水；成矿元素Ｕ，Ａｇ，Ｍｏ有不同来源；其中早期矿化热液中的铀主要来自次火山热液或次火山岩，而晚期成矿热液的铀主要来自基底岩石； 相似文献