Geological isolation of nuclear waste requires laboratory and field investigations to evaluate migration parameters such as diffusion and dispersion coefficient of radionuclides in order to assess the site suitability for locating a high level radioactive waste repository. However, migration of radionuclides through the rock mass away from the radioactive waste repository is an extremely slow p...

We have developed seismic velocity models for the heated rock surrounding a tunnel in Yucca Mountain tuff and compared the results with field data obtained at the Yucca Mountain drift scale test DST facility from 1998 to 2002. During that time, the tunnel was heated to replicate the effects of long-term storage of decaying nuclear waste and to study the effects of extreme temperatures on the su...

As part of the demonstration of compliance with federal regulations, a shaft seal system has been designed for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The system completely fills the 650-m shafts with components consisting of the common engineering materials, each of which possesses low permeability, longevity, and can be constructed using available technology. Design investigations couple rock mechan...

Dilution can best be defined as the proportion of waste tonnage to the total weight of ore and waste in each block. Predicting the internal dilution based on geological boundaries of waste and ore in each block can help engineers to develop more reliable long-term planning designs in mining activities. This paper presents a method to calculate the geological internal dilution in each block and ...