Geology: Projects
Keeping Waste in Place: Engineered Barrier Systems for Yucca Mountain
Yucca Mountain will serve as the nation's first long-term geologic repository for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Inside Yucca Mountain, what will keep the waste in place? An Engineered Barrier System (EBS).
Since 1998, we have coordinated pilot-scale tests to evaluate the EBS for Yucca Mountain. These tests will help us develop and verify process and computer models of the EBS. These tests have included air ventilation tests, natural convection tests, and breached drip-shield tests. Current activities are focusing on coordinating Rock-Bolt pull tests and a quarter-scale heat dispersion test.
Fig. 1. The Ventilation Test Setup.
Setting the Stage: Underground Field Testing at Yucca Mountain
Field testing is a critical component of Yucca Mountain Project site research. It provides data that researchers use to validate site performance and monitor and predict activity at the site.
Our team coordinates all field-testing within the Exploratory Studies Facility. We work directly with construction, engineering, and scientific staff to
• solve problems,
• ensure compliance with Integrated Safety Management principles and functions, and
• keep underground test projects on schedule and within budget.
Testing over the past 2 years has emphasized geotechnical rock properties testing and the start of the cooling phase of the Drift-Scale Thermal Test. Underground testing will be continued to subport licensing, construction, and operation of the repository.
Keeping an Eye on Earthquakes: Geological Elements of the Lab's Seismic Hazards Program
Fault lines criss-cross much of the U.S., posing a silent but menacing threat: earthquakes. Caused by fault-line movement, earthquakes can inflict significant damage on apartments, homes, business, and DOE labs.
To evaluate the potential for fault-line movement, our team of geologists conducts detailed site-specific investigations at DOE nuclear facilities. For most facilities, our goal is to identify faults with as little as 30 cm of vertical displacement in the last million years. We have developed a method of field-data acquisition and analysis called "high-precision geologic mapping" that helps us identify these faults.
Fig. 1. Shaded relief map with detail of Rio Grande rift boundary faults (red) and outline of Los Alamos National Laboratory (blue). (Inset) Seismic Hazards Team geologists examine a fault exposed in a 5-m-deep paleoseismic trench.
A New Volcano at Yucca Mountain? Evaluating the Risk
Could a new volcano arise in the Yucca Mountain area? How would rising magma dikes affect the radioactive waste stored at Yucca Mountain? If a volcano erupts, what sort of damage will it do?
To answer these questions, our team of volcanologists is developing models and computational codes that address magma flow and eruption effects. We are also studying the Lathrop Wells volcano to understand how waste particles might scatter during an eruption.
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