Author(s)

J. Birkholzer, G. Li, C.F. Tsang & Y. Tsang

Abstract

An important issue for the performance of underground nuclear waste reposi- tories is the rate of seepage into the waste emplacement drifts. A prediction of this rate is particularly complicated for the potential repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, because it is located in thick, unsaturated, fractured tuff for- mations. Underground openings in unsaturated media might act as capillary bar- riers, diverting water around them. In the present work, we study the potential rate of seepage into drifts as a function of the percolation flux at Yucca Moun- tain, based on a stochastic model of the fractured rock mass in the drift vicinity. A variety of flow scenarios are considered, assuming

Keywords