Regional Groundwater Flow Assessment in a Prospective High-Level Radioactive Waste Repository of China

• Main Authors: Xiaoyuan Cao, Litang Hu, Jinsheng Wang, Jingrui Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-07-01
• Series: Water
• Subjects: nuclear waste disposal; the Beishan area; TOUGH2; groundwater flow; assessment
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/9/7/551

The production of nuclear energy will result in high-level radioactive waste (HLRW), which brings potential environmental dangers. Selecting a proper disposal repository is a crucial step in the development of nuclear energy. This paper introduces firstly the hydrogeological conditions of the Beishan area in China. Next, a regional groundwater model is constructed using a multiphase flow simulator to analyze the groundwater flow pattern in the Beishan area. Model calibration shows that the simulated and observed hydraulic heads match well, and the simulated regional groundwater flow pattern is similar to the surface flow pattern from the channel network, indicating that the groundwater flow is mainly dependent on the topography. In addition, the simulated groundwater storage over the period from 2003 to 2014 is similar to the trend derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite-derived results. Last, the established model is used to evaluate the influences of the extreme climate and regional faults on the groundwater flow pattern. It shows that they do not have a significant influence on the regional groundwater flow patterns. This study will provide a preliminary reference for the regional groundwater flow assessment in the site of the HLRW in China.