Lessons learned from reactive transport modeling of a low-activity waste glass disposal system
A set of reactive chemical transport calculations were conducted with the Subsurface Transport Over Reactive Multi-phases (STORM) code to evaluate the long-term performance of a representative low-activity waste glass in a shallow subsurface disposal system located on the Hanford site. Two different trench designs were considered, one with four rows of small waste packages (old design), the other with three layers of larger waste packages (new design). One-dimensional (1D) simulations were carried out to 20,000yr, whereas two-dimensional (2D) simulations could only be carried out for 10,000yr due to constraints on computational time. Both the 1D and 2D simulations predicted that the technetium release rate from the waste packages would be lower for the new trench design at times greater than 1yr. Having fewer, larger waste packages decreases the glass surface area exposed to reaction with pore water. In the 2D simulations, water can flow around the waste packages, which causes a decrease in the water flux through the waste packages and lower release rates than predicted in the 1D simulations. This result reinforces the importance of performing multi-dimensional waste form release simulations.
chemical transport numerical model low-level waste vadose zone unsaturated flow