Document Type

Technical Report

Publication Date

1-6-2005

Abstract

The study of the behavior and movement of radionuclides in the environment is significant to many projects of interest to Southern Nevada, especially for the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository, as well as to the nation-wide issues of radiological releases from a variety of scenarios. Understanding and predicting the release, transport, and fate of radionuclides, particularly the actinide elements, in the Mojave/Great Basin geology is an extremely challenging, multi-faceted problem. In support of the national program to deepen our understanding of the behavior of radionuclides in the environment and to better predict the performance of a geological repository at Yucca Mountain, researchers at UNLV, under a cooperative agreement between and UNLV Research Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy (#DE-FC28-04RW12237), will examine two key fate and transport issues: the potential impact of microorganisms and the impact of the formation of alteration phases due to the corrosion of the waste package and waste forms on the chemistry, fate, and transport of radionuclides released from the site. Task ORD-RF-01 (SIP-UNLV-046) is focused on the influence of microorganisms. Task ORD-RF-02 (SIP-UNLV-045) involves surface complexation and solid dissolution studies. This task, titled Impact of Alteration Phase Formation and Microbial Activity on the Fate and Transport of the Actinides and Fission Products: Alteration Phase Analysis, entails method development and elemental characterization of select alteration phases generated in Task ORD-RF-02. All of this work is subject to QARD and University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN) Quality Assurance (QA) Program requirements

Keywords

Nevada – Yucca Mountain; Radioactive waste repositories; Radioisotopes – Migration

Disciplines

Chemistry | Environmental Chemistry | Radiochemistry

Language

English

Comments

Report Document Identifier: SIP-UNLV-044

Task ORD-RF-03

Signatures have been redacted for privacy and security measures.


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