But the most practical scheme for disposing of spent nuclear fuel and other high-level waste is to bury it in rock formations so stable that even after thousands of years they won't permit the escape of radioactive substances as gases, liquids, or particles. Since the early 1980s scientists have been investigating a more peaceful use for this barren landscape, as a final resting place for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. The nature and history of Yucca Mountain's rock formations, the flow of water through them, and the risks of earthquakes or volcanoes are only a few of the questions that must be answered. In collaboration with researchers from other National Laboratories, scientists from Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division have taken a major role in a crucial series of tests that will determine the Yucca Mountain repository's fate. They have set out to determine how the heat generated by high-level nuclear waste is likely to affect the transport of radionuclides due to coupled changes in the thermal, chemical, mechanical, and hydrological properties of the rock under Yucca Mountain.
Numerous instruments monitor the effect of heat on the surrounding rock.
Tests like these will help determine the consequences of storing nuclear wastes in tunnels inside Yucca Mountain. The tests being done now are based on that paper. The team outlined an approach that included not only field tests, but extensive computer modeling and laboratory experiments as well. At Berkeley Lab we have done substantial work in coupled thermal and hydrological modeling, with expertise in flow and transport in heterogeneous systems. Here we have multiple processes operating within a complex geological system.