Mass transfer in a geologic environment

A new analytical solution is presented that predicts the rate of dissolution of species from a waste package surrounded by a wet porous medium. By equating the rate of diffusive mass transfer into the porous rock to the rate of liquid-surface chemical reaction, an analytical solution for the time-dependent dissolution rate and the time-dependent concentration of dissolved species at the waste surface is obtained. From these results it is shown that for most of the important species in a package of radioactive waste the surface liquid quickly reaches near-saturation concentrations and the dissolution rate can be predicted by the simpler theory that assumes saturation concentrations in the surface liquid. 26 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab