Abstract:
According to the circumstances of an underground nuclear test CHESHIRE at the Nevada Test Site, a model was developed to simulate the dissolution and migration of
239Pu from melt glass in groundwater. The release rate of
239Pu was calculated and the released
239Pu was divided into dissolved fraction and colloid fraction. The pollution plumes for dissolved
239Pu and colloid
239Pu were simulated in 100 000 years by software FEFLOW. The results show that the dissolved
239Pu can’t migration far away from the melt glass and sorption coefficient is the key parameter. If sorption coefficient is more than 10 mL/g, the long distance migration of dissolved
239Pu can be ignored. The colloid
239Pu plume will be long-standing in the downstream of the melt glass. The
239Pu concentration at 1.3 km away from the melt glass would be 10
-2 Bq/L for a long time. The parameters effecting colloid
239Pu migration are the melt glass release rate, the colloid fraction ratio and aquifer conductivity. It can be concluded that only colloid
239Pu can migrate far away from the melt glass.