Safety assessments of low level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal facilities often adopt a relatively simplistic and cautious approach to the modelling radionuclide releases from the waste and repository (the 'near-field').
Quintessa has recently completed a study to review the near-field models and associated computer codes. In light of the review, an improved approach has been developed and applied to generic LLW disposal concepts. The results indicated more than an order of magnitude reduction in calculated doses for most of the calculation cases considered in the study compared with an earlier model due to the more detailed representation of the near field and its associated processes.
Image Courtesy of LLWR Limited.