A Review of the Swedish KBS-3 Plan for Final Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel (1984) / Chapter Skim
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'Concluding Remarks'
'Concluding Remarks'
Pages 66-70
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From page 66... ...
Although the bentonite buffer provides some retardation, no credit is taken for it by the KBS authors in their safety analysis. The essential question in judging the technical background of the KBS plan is whether a good case has been made for the durability of copper in a stable repository environment; all else is incidental, necessary for insurance purposes but probably almost irrelevant to the central issue of human safety.
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From page 67... ...
The compacted bentonite to be placed in the deposition holes around the canisters has been exhaustively tested, and the feasibility of emplacing it has been demonstrated; there seems little doubt that it can perform its expected functions of keeping groundwater stationary or nearly so at canister surfaces, of slowing the motion of corrodents to canister surfaces, and of helping to maintain pH in the range of 8 to 9.5. Some question remains about its ability to protect canisters from sudden mechanical disturbance.
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From page 68... ...
The motion of groundwater in fractures at depth in granitic bedrock cannot be accurately deduced from measurements at the surface and in boreholes, especially if there is much channeling along fractures; but conservative estimates for the studied sites are a source of confidence that sizable rock volumes exist where groundwater would not adversely affect a repository. The most troubling uncertainties remaining in the KBS proposal relate to the part least likely ever to be relevant to actual repository performance, i.e., the migration of radionuclides through buffer and bedrock in the improbable event of early canister rupture.
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From page 69... ...
The KBS research has not only achieved its purpose of showing that radioactive waste can be disposed of in Sweden with reasonable assurance of safety for at least one million years, but it has provided the world with a wealth of basic data on the corrosion of copper, on the movement of groundwater in fractured rock, on the properties of bentonite, and on the many factors that influence radionuclide migration. In compiling these data, the KBS authors have performed a valuable service both for their own country and for any country or group considering the disposal of nuclear waste in crystalline bedrock.
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