Preliminary investigation of the thermal and structural influence of ventilation drifts on repository rooms

The presence of ventilation drifts within a design of a National Waste Terminal Storage (NWTS) repository in domal salt is investigated for the thermal and structural influence on the corridors and disposal rooms. The structural influence of the ventilation drifts is emphasized since the heat and fluid flow aspects (e.g., air flow rate, air temperature, and air pathways) are beyond the scope of this study. The two-dimensional numerical analyses considered two representative cross-sections of the design perturbation of approximately 100C near the ventilation drift. The remaining portion of the repository should experience negligible temperature variation because of the physical presence of the ventilation drift. The mechanical results indicated a noticeable change in stress only near the region of the excavated ventilation drift. Additional room and corridor deformation due to the presence of the ventilation drift was small. The ventilation drifts considered in this study do not appear to have a significant thermal or structural influence beyond the immediate vicinity of the ventilation drift. Therefore, the corridors and disposal rooms should be unaffected by the presence of the ventilation drifts discussed herein