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The Waste Package Materials Field Test in S.E. New Mexico Salt*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Martin A. Molecke  and
Teresa M. Torres
Martin A. Molecke
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Division 6332, Albuquerque, NM 87185
Teresa M. Torres
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Division 6332, Albuquerque, NM 87185
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Abstract

A six-part, waste package materials field test was conducted in a halite horizon of a potash mine in southeastern New Mexico. The primary purposes of this test were to evaluate the thermophysical and geochemical performance of candidate HLW-package backfill materials emplaced in rock salt and the corrosion behavior of candidate waste canister or overpack alloys. This field test series also served as a precursor to forthcoming Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in situ waste package performance experiments on simulated defense high-level waste packages, serving to develop applicable testing, instrumentation, and sampling techniques. The backfill materials tested (individually, in one- to five-month tests) were: low-density bentonite clay; low-density bentonite (70 wt.%)-silica sand (30 wt.%) mixtures, both dry and brine-injected; high-density bentonite-sand annular compacts; trapped air; and finely-crushed WIPP salt. The in situ measured thermal conductivities (at a maximum canister-heater surface temperature of 150° or 250°C) for the backfills ranged from 0.25 W/mK for pure bentonite to about 1.25 W/mK for the high-density bentonite-sand. No significant backfill material degradation products were detected in post-test analyses. No appreciable corrosion of the titanium-, nickel-, or iron-based alloys embedded in the hot backfill was found; potentially significant pitting corrosion of 2 1/4 Cr-1 Mo steel and copper was detected.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 26: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VII , 1983 , 69
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1984

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Footnotes

*

This work performed at Sandia National Laboratories, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract Number DE-AC04-76DP00789.

References

REFERENCES

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