Abstract
For the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, the amount, timing, and expected composition of water contacting the waste package are major concerns. In the presence of thermal loading from radioactive decay, a flow system is set up with water leaving as vapor and returning as liquid flowing through the matrix and fractures. A hypothesis is developed suggesting that most water in the vicinity of the waste package evaporates, leaving behind a scale deposit and concentrated solution. The vapor pressure lowering caused by the brine solution maintains a water film on the rock and waste package materials even in the presence of a dry environment with thermal gradients. The chemical environment within which container corrosion and spent fuel alteration occur is anticipated to be an initial period of concentrated brine, followed by solutions of lower ionic strength as the repository cools. The specific environment and timing could vary widely between different waste packages and within individual waste packages subsequent to container failure.
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