Rapid Migration of Radionuclides Leaked from High-Level Waste Tanks: A Study of Salinity Gradients, Wetted Path Geometry, and Water Vapor Transport

This study combines laboratory, field, and numerical experiments with the following objectives: to investigate the effect of elevated surface tension, density, and viscosity of highly saline fluids on soil water-retention properties, wetting front instability, the formation and persistence of fingers, and contaminant mobility to investigate the conditions under which osmotically driven vapor flux is operative and quantify its impact on plume transport to develop and incorporate a theory describing these processes into an existing DOE-developed, numerical simulator to allow prediction of contaminant migration at realistic spatial and temporal scales. The product will be a tool that DOE can use to perform more realistic analyses to predict fate and transport of high ionic-strength contaminants, evaluate different tank waste retrieval strategies and their impact on the vadose zone, and assess the associated health risks