Application of thermal conduction models to deepsea disposal of radioacitve wastes

Abstract

Thermal problems associated with the emplacement of radio-active wastes in the deepsea sedimentary layer have been studied. In particular, the nature of the temperature field surrounding and the interstitial water velocity arising from a buried cask have been examined. Worst case estimates indicate that the velocity will be extremely weak and thus not likely to provide a primary transport mechanism for the radioactive material. This statement will, of course, only apply for moderately low levels of heat generation by the decaying radio nuclides. Because of the low interstitial water velocity, thermal conduction models can be used to predict the temperature field in the surrounding sediments as well as the cask surface temperature. This is equivalent to ''decoupling'' the energy and momentum conservation relationships thus simplifying the solution of the temperature field. The present work considers in come detail the temperature field surrounding a vertical circular ''cylinder'' located a distance below a horizontal, isothermal, plane surface. Actually, the isotherm corresponding to the cask surface is an ellipsoid of revolution but the error will be small for large values of the length to diameter ratio. The resulting expression can be usd to estimate temperature of the cask surface for material degradation studiesmore » and the effect of temperature upon the ion transport process in the sediments. « less

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