Near-Field Transport of Radioactive Chains

by C. -H. Kang, Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst, Daejeon, Republic of Korea,
P. L. Chambr?, Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst, Daejeon, Republic of Korea,
T. H. Pigford, Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst, Daejeon, Republic of Korea,
W. W. -L. Lee, Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst, Daejeon, Republic of Korea,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: High Level Radioactive Waste Management 1991

Abstract:

Much attention has been given to predicting the near-field mass transfer of a single radioactive species from a waste solid into surrounding porous material, but only limited consideration has been given to predicting the coupled mass transfer of species in a radioactive decay chain. Here we present an analysis that assumes that the members of a decay chain dissolve congruently with a solubility-limited matrix. Here 'dissolution' refers to the net process of dissolving in ground water. A solid species that may temporarily dissolve in interacting with water to form a precipitate is not considered to have dissolved. We give the general, non-recursive analytic solutions for the transport of a radioactive decay chain in a finite porous medium when nuclides are released congruently with the matrix. To illustrate we consider the decay chain ²³⁴U?²³⁰Th?²²⁶Ra from spent fuel. These solutions are useful and potentially important in performance assessment of nuclear waste repositories.

Subject Headings: Radioactive wastes | Decomposition | Porous media | Mass transfer | Fuels | Solubility | Matrix (mathematics)

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