Simulation of gas phase transport of carbon-14 at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA

The authors have simulated gas phase transport of Carbon-14 at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Three models were established to calculate travel time of Carbon-14 from the potential repository to the mountain surface: a geochemical model for retardation factors, a coupled gas-flow and heat transfer model for temperature and gas flow fields, and a particle tracker for travel time calculation. The simulation used three parallel, east-west cross-sections that were taken from the Sandia National Laboratories Interactive Graphics Information Systems (IGIS). Assuming that the repository is filled with 30-year-old waste at an initial areal power density of 57 kw/acre, the authors found that repository temperatures remain above 60 C for more than 10,000 years. For a tuff permeability of 10-7 cm2, Carbon-14 travel times to the surface are mostly less than 1,000 years, for particles starting at any time within the first 10,000 years. If the tuff permeability is 10-8 cm2, however, Carbon-14 travel times to the surface range from 3,000 to 12,000 years, for particle starting within the 10,000 years