SKB Task Force GWFTS: Increasing the Realism of Solute Transport
Modelling in Fractured Media
Abstract
SKB and several other waste management organisations 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
organised in collaborative modelling tasks. This study considers Task 9,
which 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. 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. It is one of few recent in-situ studies
focusing on tracer transport in the stagnant pore water of the
crystalline rock matrix. 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. Posiva’s
REPRO (rock matrix REtention PROperties) experimental programme has been
performed at the ONKALO rock characterisation facility in Finland. The
two REPRO experiments considered were the Water Phase Diffusion
Experiment, addressing matrix diffusion in gneiss around a single
borehole interval, and the Through Diffusion Experiment, which is
performed between sections of three boreholes. These three experiments
provided an opportunity to improve the conceptual understanding of
solute transport in fractured rock and to increase the realism in solute
transport modelling, with the ultimate goal of improving safety
assessments of deep geological disposal for nuclear waste. 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 organisations and the work by the multiple modelling teams.