Selection criteria for brine compositions used in leaching experiments of high-level waste forms in Germany

Quantification of the chemical composition of brines that could occur in high-level radioactive waste repositories in domal salt formations is essential for the long-term performance assessment of these repositories. This paper provides a survey of the selection processes of brines under consideration for leaching experiments and shows the chemical composition of those brines actually employed for current experiments. It also discusses why it was possible to reduce the total number of eleven different types of brine which were under discussion at the very beginning to three basic types recommended by the HLW Working Commission for further use in leaching experiments. (orig.)