Quintessa is providing support to the participation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) in the European Commission (EC) CARBOWASTE project, which is exploring options for the management and disposal of irradiated graphite.
The objective of the first phase of work was to better understand the behaviour of irradiated graphite wastes in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) and how the performance of a GDF would be influenced by alternative disposal options and uncertainties in process understanding and parameterisation. In a recent report (Optimisation of Deep Geological Disposal of Graphite Wastes) mathematical models of coupled gas generation, multiphase flow, carbonate equilibria and cement chemistry were used to examine the physico-chemical evolution of a GDF and the partitioning and release of C-14 for a range of disposal concepts.
Image courtesy of EDF Energy