Radioactive Waste Disposal

Lecture 16 Fundamentals of Earth Resources

Environmental Considerations L. Cathles 2011

How is U burned and how is it disposed?

The Uranium Cycle

Uranium Cycle

Fuel rods (pins)

Fuel rods: 3 yr in reactor 5 years cooling pond yrs dry storage

Craig et al. (2001, fig 6.5)

Rods are ore

1 g 235U

Hypothetical 3.3%
0 years 967 kg
238U

235U

rod (pin)

= 13.7 bbl oil = 4.6 t coal

3 years
Breeder (fast neutron) reactors increase conversion

Depleted rods are an ore

1500 kg metal oxides and reactor cladding so waste ~66% U
Natural ores 0.1 to 15% U

946 kg

238U

(21 kg burned)

33 kg 235U

10 kg 235U 9 kg Pu

U 235/238 ratio is 10/946= 0.01

Natural ratio 235/238 = 0.0071 Including Pu, reactor waste 2.8 x richer

34 kg fission prods 2 kg transuranics

Know exact location

no exploration cost

Contain as much 235U as ore

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To Radiation otal

* This may have changed now, but we are not reprocessing in the US.

Craig et al. (2001, fig 4.30)

Waste to be stored each year

1. Mass loss in fission of 235U ~0.2 g/mole
E/kg-235U = mc2 / 235 = {(0.2 g/ 235 g)(1 kg)} (3x108m/s)2 J of electricity = 76.5 x 1012 J/kg-235U

2. Nuclear power plant 1000 MW = 3.15 x 1016 Je/yr

(3.15 x 1016 Je/yr )/ {(76.5 x 1012)(0.3*)(0.75**)}

= 1.8 t 235U/yr = 52# tenr-U = 257## t U/yr

3. 3.5 m x 0.8 cm ID pin+ contains 3.34 kgenr-U

reactor consumes ~15,600 pins =313++ assemblies = 78 canisters/yr

4. Rod life 3 yrs

=52 tenr-U / 3.34x10-3 tenr-U per pin

reactor contains ~47,000 pins = 234 canisters t t i 47 000 i i t

* 30% electrical conversion efficiency ** 75% of 235U in rods used # enriched to 3.5% 235U ## 0.0071 kg 235U per kg U in ore + density 19 t m-2 (e.g., 3.34 kg = r2 L, pin is 100% U ) ++ assembly has ~50 pins, 1 transport/moving canister has 4 assemblies 0.67 t U / canister

10,000 yrs y ~3% initial waste canister

By current law*, US plants cannot recycle and must place 1st-cycle U-waste safely in repositories for 10,000 ears 10 000 years

Cross-checking
760 x 1012 W-hr / yr = 8.7 x 1010 W ~ 87 1 GW plants 87 1 GW plants @ 257 tU y-1= 22,400 t U/yr

22,397 t U3O8 = what US consumes per year * 257 t U-ore/yr/1 GW power plant
www.infoimagination.org/.../global_change.html

Hypothetical High Level Waste Repository

Dispose 70,000 t U ~100,000 canisters ~78 canisters per year per 1 GW plant ~87 1000 MW plants in US today
( = 6800 canisters/yr)

Thus repository accomodate ~15 years of waste (=100,000 can/6800 can/yr) from 100 nuclear plants
Yucca mountain baseline capacity = 70,000 t U But performance-based capacity is likely much greater than 200,000 t Thus capacity is ~50 years of current US waste production
http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2006/04/per-peterson-on-yucca-mountains.html

Yucca Mt Repository
Yucca Mt

3x3 km

70,000 t U (15 years of waste) 18 burial panels each 450 x 900 m in plan 200 to 500 m deep Tunnels hold 0.7 m diameter 3 m long canisters 5 m apart 18 panels cover area 3 x 3 km

Water flows around tunnels

Pilot tunnel
Tunnel machine breaking surface
http://www.ymp.gov/uploads/images/

High Level Repository

70,000 70 000 t U 18 burial panels each 450 x 900 m in plan 200 to 500 m below surface 0.7 m diameter 3 m long canisters 5 m apart p 18 panels cover area 3 x 3 km Initial heat generation, Jo = 0.014 kW m-2
t t J (t ) 0.2 = 0.5e + 0.5e 3 Jo

,where t is in ka

Heating and fluid circulation

3 km

Maximum hot circulation <140* kg cm-2

*~ 1/1000th Pocos circulation

Is this good? Is this bad?

Is this good? Is this bad?

Look to Geology: What has nature done?

Oklo Reactor Cigar Lake Osamu Utsumi mine Brazil

Pocos de Caldas Caldera 30 km diameter

Study to see how waste might migrate

Osamu Utsumi Uranium Mine

Uranium leaching in equatorial location with high rainfall

Simplified Evolution of Pocos de Caldas Alkaline Complex

time

Mine in breccia pipe

Failed Waste Repository Analogue

time

Mining mineralized breccia pipe

Oxidized and leached protore 500m migra ation

30 ppm

40+ U ppm protore

Observations cover small portion of total system

500 m band Highly altered

Magma volume needed to circulate fluids required to produce alteration and mineralization

Metasomatism compatible with 30 wt% addition of Down-T hydrothermal minerals K-enrichment

etched sanadine

K-feldspar cubes

Moles/kg into altered rock

Petrographic estimates
Potassium enrichment simulated in laboratory

+30% =

T-gradient flow tube

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Moles Transported

The altered band

Needed

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Calculated ~ observed chemical change in 500 m layer for 105 kg cm-1

Al+3
500 Calculated ~ Observed
(at chlorinity of 5000 to 10,000 ppm)

Moles/cm2 added to breccia

SO SiO2 K+
0

-500

-1000

Na+
-1500

30 wt% alteration

Calculated ~ observed mineralogic change at 105 kg cm-2

Calculated Observed

Wt % mineralogic change m e

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How much can an intrusion convect?

Intusion

Cross sectional area of intrusion = 2.12 km2

2,000 yrs

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5,000 yrs

7,500 yrs

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10,000 yrs

~ 500 kg cm-2 circulated though pipe at 10 ka

500 kg cm-2

fluid volume ~ 1.3 x intrusion

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Hot circulation ended by ~10,000 yrs

12 km diameter intrusion can circulate 105 kg cm-2 through 3, 500m diameter pipes

12 km diameter intrusion

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Complete failure of containment produces 1/1000th alteration of natural system

1/1000th POCOS 0.03 Wt%

(not 30 wt%) (not 40 ppm)

Geology provides insight when assisted by quantitative analysis

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References
1. Cathles, L. M., and Shea, M. E., 1992, Near-field high temperature transport: evidence for the genesis of the Osamu Utsumi uranium mine, Pocos de Caldas alkaline complex, Brazil, Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 45, 565-603. G. J. Suppes and T. S. Storvick, Sustainable nuclear power, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Chapter 11, Recycling and waste handling for spent nuclear fuel, p. 283-317. http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/chapter11.htmp

2.

3.

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