Modeling colloid transport for performance assessment

The natural system is expected to contribute to isolation at the proposed high-level nuclear waste (HLW) geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, NV (YM). In developing performance assessment (PA) computer models to simulate long-term behavior at YM, colloidal transport of radionuclides has been proposed as a critical factor because of the possible reduced interaction with the geologic media. Site-specific information on the chemistry and natural colloid concentration of saturated zone groundwaters in the vicinity of YM is combined with a surface complexation sorption model to evaluate the impact of natural colloids on calculated retardation factors (RF) for several radioelements of concern in PA. Inclusion of colloids into the conceptual model can reduce the calculated effective retardation significantly. Strongly sorbed radionuclides such as americium and thorium are most affected by pseudocolloid formation and transport, with a potential reduction in RF of several orders of magnitude. Radioelements that are less strongly sorbed under YM conditions, such as uranium and neptunium, are not affected significantly by colloid transport, and transport of plutonium in the valence state is only moderately enhanced. Model results showed no increase in the peak mean annual total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) within a compliance period of 10,000 years, although this is strongly dependent on container life in the base case scenario. At longer times, simulated container failures increase and the TEDE from the colloidal models increased by a factor of 60 from the base case. By using mechanistic models and sensitivity analyses to determine what parameters and transport processes affect the TEDE, colloidal transport in future versions of the TPA code can be represented more accurately.