Application of integral methods to prediction of heat transfer from a nuclear waste repository

Integral methods have been developed and applied to the prediction of the far field thermal impact of a nuclear waste repository. Specifically, the heat balance integral has been applied to a semi-infinite layered domain in which a limited number of sublayers form the repository overburden, and the repository is represented by an infinite plane beneath either one or two sublayers. Calculations for PWR spent fuel with an initial areal thermal loading of 60 kW/acre are carried out for various stratigraphies and overburden compositions. Results of the analyses are temperature distributions and heat fluxes to the surface as a function to time. Based on this study, the thermophysical properties of the individual layers are identified as the most important influence on temperature distributions and maximum temperature rise at any position above the repository. The thicknesses of the sublayers play a secondary role for a given rock composition. Where a comparison to exact or numerical solutions is possible, the method predicts maximum temperature increases in the overburden to within 10 percent. Heat fluxes to the surface are found to be relatively insensitive to overburden composition. For dome salt, a maximum of 1.2 percent to 2.7 percent of the initial areal thermal power of a five-term source reaches the surface. For bedded salt, a maximum of 1 percent to 1.8 percent of the initial areal thermal power reaches the surface over a wide range of sublayer compositions. Similarly, low percentages of initial areal thermal power reach the surface for the other stratigraphies considered in the calculations