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Conditions for Criticality by Uranium Deposition in Water-Saturated Geological Formations

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Conditions for Criticality by Uranium Deposition in Water-Saturated Geological Formations UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Previously Published Works Title Conditions for criticality by uranium deposition in water-saturated geological formations Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8zf4q0jm Journal Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 52(3) ISSN 0022-3131 Authors Liu, X Ahn, J Hirano, F Publication Date 2015 DOI 10.1080/00223131.2014.953616 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California This article was downloaded by: [Joonhong Ahn] On: 05 September 2014, At: 07:37 Publisher: Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnst20 Conditions for criticality by uranium deposition in water-saturated geological formations Xudong Liua, Joonhong Ahna & Fumio Hiranob a Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1730, USA b Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Geological Isolation Research and Development Directorate, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki 319-1194, Japan Published online: 03 Sep 2014. To cite this article: Xudong Liu, Joonhong Ahn & Fumio Hirano (2014): Conditions for criticality by uranium deposition in water-saturated geological formations, Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, DOI: 10.1080/00223131.2014.953616 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2014.953616 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. 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Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2014.953616 ARTICLE Conditions for criticality by uranium deposition in water-saturated geological formations Xudong Liua∗, Joonhong Ahna and Fumio Hiranob aDepartment of Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1730, USA; bJapan Atomic Energy Agency, Geological Isolation Research and Development Directorate, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki 319-1194, Japan (Received 17 April 2014; accepted final version for publication 7 August )2014 This study focuses on neutronic analysis to examine the criticality conditions for uranium depositions in geological formations resulting from geological disposal of damaged fuels from Fukushima Daiichi re- actors. MCNP models are used to evaluate the neutron multiplication factor (keff) and critical mass for various combinations of host rock and geometries. It has been observed that the keff for the deposition become greater with (1) smaller concentrations of neutron-absorbing materials in the host rock, (2) larger porosity of the host rock, (3) heterogeneous geometry of the deposition, and (4) greater mass of uranium in the deposition. This study has revealed that the planar fracture geometry applied in the previous criti- cality safety assessment for geological disposal would not necessarily yield conservative results against the homogeneous uranium deposition. Keywords: geological disposal; criticality; radioactive waste management 1. Introduction tive repository, and (2) if such critical configurations are The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear conceivable, then whether or not such configurations can Power Station in March 2011 generated damaged fuel actually be explained by the FEPs. Corresponding to in three crippled reactors, containing nearly 250 metric these two questions, CSA consists of two parts: the neu- tons (MT) of uranium and plutonium along with fission tronics analysis for evaluating critical mass of TFM [4] products, minor actinides, and other materials such as and the analysis for transport and deposition of TFM in fuel cladding, assemblies, and in-core structural materi- the near and far fields [5]. For the first part, in the CSA als [1]. While exact forms and conditions of such dam- for YMR, various neutronics models were developed aged fuels are yet to be thoroughly investigated, they will [6–13] by considering compositions of TFM, groundwa- be eventually disposed of in a deep geological repository. ter, rocks, and geometries of TFM depositions for vari- Downloaded by [Joonhong Ahn] at 07:37 05 September 2014 For a prospective repository, a criticality safety as- ous conditions in Nevada tuff rock. sessment (CSA) should be performed to ensure that the This study focuses on the first of these two stages repository system including the engineered barriers and of CSA, i.e. the neutronics analysis to explore the far-field geological formations remains sub-critical for conditions for TFM depositions generated from the tens of thousands to millions of years [2,3]. In CSA, the damaged fuel to become critical in the far field of a list for the features, processes, and events (FEPs) related water-saturated geological repository. Monte-Carlo cal- to migration and precipitation of thermally fissile mate- culations have been carried out by MCNP6 [14]to rials (TFM) in waste canisters that would lead to critical obtain the neutron multiplication factor (keff) and the configuration is developed for the post-closure period. minimum critical mass of TFM within a parameter For example, in the CSA for the license application of space for various TFM-rock-groundwater systems that Yucca Mountain Repository (YMR) [2], the TFM de- might cover potential repository site conditions. position in fractures of tuff below the repository horizon Because of lack of actual repository-site information resulting from multiple waste packages was considered at the present time for the longevity of the CSA, it is cru- as one of the far-field criticality scenarios. cial that the analysis is performed with well-established The central questions in CSA are (1) whether or not conservative models. In the previous studies for reposi- critical configurations are conceivable with TFM under tory criticality safety such as [6–11,15], the planar frac- geological and groundwater conditions for the prospec- ture model was used for representing heterogeneity of ∗Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] C 2014 Atomic Energy Society of Japan. All rights reserved. 2 X. Liu et al. TFM deposition in geological formations. However, the environment, such as in organic-rich or iron-rich rock in conservativeness of the planar fracture model has never the far field. been investigated in detail. In this paper, in addition Based on these qualitative understandings and as- to detailed analysis on mechanism and parameters that sumptions, we identify the following three stages. would affect neutron multiplication, the conservative- ness of the planar fracture model has been investigated (1) A canister containing damaged fuel before wa- by comparing various geometries. ter intrusion: until corrosion penetrates through a canister, no water enters the canister. We can practically screen out this stage from our consid- 2. Background and assumptions eration because a canister should be designed to As time elapses, Pu-239 decays to U-235 with the be sub-critical, as was done in the Three-Mile- half-life of 24,100 years. Similarly, other trans-uranic Island defueling canister design [17]. isotopes will also eventually decay to uranium isotopes. (2) Plutonium deposition in its vicinity after wa- Because combined time for canister corrosion and dis- ter intrusion: after corrosion has penetrated solution of damaged fuel after canister failure tends to through the canister, groundwater starts to en- be longer than their decay half-lives, minor-actinide iso- ter, and dissolution of damaged fuel progresses. topes (neptunium, americium, and curium) will have de- Plutonium would gradually dissolve in the wa- cayed to plutonium and then to uranium isotopes while ter perched in the canister, and get out of the they are still in the canister. The host rock of the reposi- canister either by molecular diffusion and/or by tory is assumed to be water-saturated. water motion. Due to extremely low solubility The temperature of the uranium depositions in this and strong sorption with the backfill materi- paper is arbitrarily assumed to be fixed at 20◦C. In als around the canister, and due to colloid for- reality, however, due to decay heat and geothermal gra- mation,
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