SKB Task Force GWFTS: Task 9 - Increasing the realism of solute
transport modelling in fractured media
Abstract
SKB and several other waste management organizations have established
the international SKB Task Force on Modelling of Groundwater Flow and
Transport of Solutes (TF GWFTS) to support and interpret field
experiments. An important objective of the task force is to develop,
test and improve tools for conceptual understanding and simulating
groundwater flow and transport of solutes in fractured rocks. Work is
organized in collaborative modelling tasks. Task 9 focuses on realistic
modelling of coupled matrix diffusion and sorption in heterogeneous
crystalline rock matrix at depth. This is done by inverse and predictive
modelling of different in-situ transport experiments. The ultimate aim
is to develop models that in a more realistic way represent retention in
fractured rock. Posiva’s REPRO (rock matrix REtention PROperties)
experimental campaign has been performed at the ONKALO rock
characterization facility in Finland. The two REPRO experiments
considered were the Water Phase Diffusion Experiment, addressing matrix
diffusion in gneiss around a single borehole interval (modelled in Task
9A), and the Through Diffusion Experiment, which is performed between
sections of three boreholes and addressed by modelling in Task 9C. The
Long-Term Diffusion and Sorption Experiment (LTDE-SD) was an in-situ
radionuclide tracer test performed at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory at a
depth of about 410 m below sea level. The experimental results indicated
a possible deeper penetration of tracers into the rock matrix than
expected and the shape of the penetration profiles were not according to
theory. This experiment was modelled and interpreted in Task 9B. Task 9D
is addressing the possible benefits of the detailed modelling of the
experiments in safety assessment calculations. The task is performed by
upscaling of Task 9A to conditions applicable for performance
assessments of nuclear waste repositories. Of additional interest is the
collective work performed by the task force to conceptually understand
and interpret the field experiments, and at the same time increase the
realism in solute transport modelling. This study would not have been
possible without the support from the waste management organizations and
the work by the multiple modelling teams.