INTEGRATION OF PERCHED WATER AND CHLORIDE DATA IN MODELING FLOW PROCESSES WITHIN THE UNSATURATED ZONE OF YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA

摘要

This paper presents a modeling study incorporating field-measured perched water and chloride data into a 3-D large-scale unsaturated zone (UZ) model of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a potential underground site for a high-level nuclear waste repository. Model calibration using these field data is intended to improve the model capability of evaluating the current conditions and predicting future conditions of the UZ, so as to aid in the performance assessment of the proposed repository system. The modeling approach is based on a continuum formulation of coupled multiphase fluid flow and tracer-transport processes through fractured porous rock, using a dual-continuum concept. The methodology includes (1) manually calibrating the fluid and rock parameters in the perched zones to match the observed perched-water body and (2) forward simulations to match the measured chloride pore-water concentration data at depths.