Nuclide Migration Field Experiments in Tuff, G Tunnel, Nevada Test Site

Abstract

A project to begin to address the phenomena of flow and element migration in fractured porous rock has recently been started by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Argonne National Laboratory. The work has three objectives: 1) to develop the experimental, instrumental, and safety techniques necessary to conduct controlled, small-scale, radionuclide migration, field experiments; 2) to use these techniques to define radionuclide migration through rock by performing generic, at-depth experiments under closely controlled conditions in a single fracture in porous rock; and 3) to determine whether available lithologic, geochemical, and hydraulic properties together with existing or developed transport models are sufficient and appropriate to describe real field conditions (i.e., to scale from small-scale laboratory studies to bench-size studies to field studies). The detailed scope of this project and its current status are described.