Book Description

AECL is evaluating a concept for disposing of nuclear fuel waste from CANDU reactors deep in plutonic rock of the Canadian Shield. As part of this evaluation, models of the physical, chemical, geological, and biological processes that could occur in a sealed disposal vault designed to limit transport of contaminants to the accessible environment were developed. The mathematical models of the transport of radionuclides and toxic chemicals from nuclear fuel waste are incorporated into a computer model named the Systems Variability Analysis Code, Generation 3, and Canadian Concept Model, Generation 3 (SYVAC3-CC3). The report presents the data in the master database used by SYVAC3-CC3 for the postclosure assessment of deep geological disposal, derived from a major program of laboratory and field studies conducted by AECL Research over the past 15 years. The data represents characteristics of a hypothetical vault, certain geologic characteristics of the Whiteshell Research Area, and a general surface environment with a human population living a rural lifestyle on a portion of the Canadian Shield in central Canada.