Joint clarification of contaminant plume and hydraulic transmissivity via a geostatistical approach using hydraulic head and contaminant concentration data

Takai, Shizuka; Shimada, Taro; Takeda, Seiji; Koike, Katsuaki*

Mathematical Geosciences, 56(2), p.333 - 360, 2024/02

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11004-023-10084-8

To enable proper remediation of accidental groundwater contamination, the contaminant plume evolution needs to be accurately estimated. In the estimation, uncertainties in both the contaminant source and hydrogeological structure should be considered, especially the temporal release history and hydraulic transmissivity. Although the release history can be estimated using geostatistical approaches, previous studies use the deterministic hydraulic property field. Geostatistical approaches can also effectively estimate an unknown heterogeneous transmissivity field via the joint data use, such as a combination of hydraulic head and tracer data. However, tracer tests implemented over a contaminated area necessarily disturb the in situ condition of the contamination. Conversely, measurements of the transient concentration data over an area are possible and can preserve the conditions. Accordingly, this study develops a geostatistical method for the joint clarification of contaminant plume and transmissivity distributions using both head and contaminant concentration data. The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated through two numerical experiments assuming a two-dimensional heterogenous confined aquifer. The use of contaminant concentration data is key to accurate estimation of the transmissivity. The accuracy of the proposed method using both head and concentration data was verified achieving a high linear correlation coefficient of 0.97 between the true and estimated concentrations for both experiments, which was 0.67 or more than the results using only the head data. Furthermore, the uncertainty of the contaminant plume evolution was successfully evaluated by considering the uncertainties of both the initial plume and the transmissivity distributions, based on their conditional realizations.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a geostatistical approach with groundwater flow modeling for three-dimensional estimation of a contaminant plume

Takai, Shizuka; Shimada, Taro; Takeda, Seiji; Koike, Katsuaki*

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 251, p.104097_1 - 104097_12, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2022.104097

When assessing the risk from an underground environment that is contaminated by radioactive nuclides and hazardous chemicals and planning for remediation, the contaminant plume distribution and the associated uncertainty from measured data should be estimated accurately. While the release history of the contaminant plume may be unknown, the extent of the plume caused by a known source and the associated uncertainty can be calculated inversely from the concentration data using a geostatistical method that accounts for the temporal correlation of its release history and groundwater flow modeling. However, the preceding geostatistical approaches have three drawbacks: (1) no applications of the three-dimensional plume estimation in real situations, (2) no constraints for the estimation of the plume distribution, which can yield negative concentration and large uncertainties, and (3) few applications to actual cases with multiple contaminants. To address these problems, the non-negativity constraint using Gibbs sampling was incorporated into the geostatistical method with groundwater flow modeling for contaminant plume estimation. This method was then tested on groundwater contamination in the Gloucester landfill in Ontario, Canada. The method was applied to three water soluble organic contaminants: 1,4-dioxane, tetrahydrofuran, and diethyl ether. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by the general agreement of the calculated plume distributions of the three contaminants with concentration data from 66 points in 1982 (linear correlation coefficient of about 0.7). In particular, the reproduced large spill of organic contaminants of 1,4-dioxane in 1978 was more accurate than the result of preceding minimum relative entropy-based studies. The same peak also appeared in the tetrahydrofuran and diethyl ether distributions approximately within the range of the retardation factor derived from the fraction of organic carbon.

Estimation of contaminated materials concentration by a geostatistical method with groundwater flow

Takai, Shizuka; Shimada, Taro; Takeda, Seiji; Koike, Katsuaki*

Joho Chishitsu, 32(3), P. 95, 2021/09

https://doi.org/10.6010/geoinformatics.32.3_89

We received best presentation award GEOINROUM-2021 for the presentation on "Estimation of contaminated materials concentration by a geostatistical method with groundwater flow". We submit the comments of impression for getting the Award to Geoinformatics.

Development of MIG2DF Version 2

Takai, Shizuka; Kimura, Hideo*; Uchikoshi, Emiko*; Munakata, Masahiro; Takeda, Seiji

JAEA-Data/Code 2020-007, 174 Pages, 2020/09

JAEA-Data-Code-2020-007.pdf:4.23MB

The MIG2DF computer code is a computer program that simulates groundwater flow and radionuclide transport in porous media for the safety assessment of radioactive waste disposal. The original version of MIG2DF was released in 1992. The original code employs a two-dimensional (vertical or horizontal cross-section, or an axisymmetric configuration) finite-element method to approximate the governing equations for density-dependent saturated-unsaturated groundwater flow and radionuclide transport. Meanwhile, for geological disposal of radioactive wastes, landscape evolution such as uplift and erosion needs to be assessed as a long-term geological and climate events, considering site conditions. In coastal areas, the impact to groundwater flow by change of salinity distribution to sea level change also needs to be considered. To deal with these events in the assessment, we have revised the original version of MIG2DF and developed the external program which enables MIG2DF to consider unsteady landscape evolution. In these developments, this report describes an upgrade of MIG2DF (Version 2) and presents the configuration, equations, methods, and verification. This reports also give the explanation external programs of MIG2DF: PASS-TRAC (the particle tracking code), PASS-PRE (the code for dataset preparation), and PASS-POST (the post-processing visualization system).

Methodology development for transient flow distribution analysis in high temperature gas-cooled reactor

Aoki, Takeshi; Sato, Hiroyuki; Ohashi, Hirofumi

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 6 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16199

The flow distribution analysis, which is a part of thermal hydraulic design of the prismatic-type of the high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) considering unintended flows between graphite blocks, has been performed for steady and conservative conditions. On the other hand, the transient analysis for satisfactorily realistic conditions will be helpful for the design improvement of prismatic-type HTGR. The present study aims to develop the transient flow distribution analysis code and confirm its applicability for the transient flow distribution analysis for prismatic-type HTGRs during anticipated operational occurrences and accidents utilizing experiences on high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR) design. The calculation model and code were developed and validated for analysis of the unintended flows in the core and the molecular diffusion dominant in beginning air ingress behavior in an air ingress accident.

Study on cooling process in a reactor vessel of sodium-cooled fast reactor under severe accident; Velocity measurement experiments simulating operation of decay heat removal systems

Tsuji, Mitsuyo; Aizawa, Kosuke; Kobayashi, Jun; Kurihara, Akikazu; Miyake, Yasuhiro*

Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 2020) (Internet), 5 Pages, 2020/08

https://doi.org/10.1115/ICONE2020-16796

The water experiments using a 1/10 scale experimental apparatus simulating the reactor vessel of SFR were conducted to investigate the natural circulation phenomena in a reactor vessel. In this paper, the natural circulation flow field in the reactor vessel was measured by the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) method. The PIV measurement was carried out under the operation of the dipped-type direct heat exchanger (DHX) installed in the upper plenum when 20% of the core fuel fell to the lower plenum and accumulated on the core catcher. From the results of PIV measurement, it was quantitatively confirmed that the upward flow occurred at the center region of the lower and upper plenums. In addition, the downward flows were confirmed near the reactor vessel wall in the upper plenum and through outermost layer of the simulated core in the lower plenum. Moreover, the relationship between the temperature field and the velocity field was investigated in order to understand the natural circulation phenomenon in the reactor vessel. From the above results, it was confirmed that the natural circulation cooling path was established under the dipped-type DHX operation.

Development of evaluation method for variability of groundwater flow conditions associated with long-term topographic change and climate perturbations

Onoe, Hironori; Kosaka, Hiroshi*; Matsuoka, Toshiyuki; Komatsu, Tetsuya; Takeuchi, Ryuji; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Yasue, Kenichi

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 26(1), p.3 - 14, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.26.1_3

In this study, it is focused on topographic changes due to uplift and denudation, also climate perturbations, a method which is able to assess the long-term variability of groundwater flow conditions using the coefficient variation based on some steady-state groundwater flow simulation results was developed. Spatial distribution of long residence time area which is not much influenced due to long-term topographic change and recharge rate change during the past one million years was able to estimate through the case study of the Tono area, Central Japan. By applying this evaluation method, it is possible to identify the local area that has low variability of groundwater flow conditions due to topographic changes and climate perturbations from the regional area quantitatively and spatially.

Application of data assimilation in groundwater hydrology; Characterization of hydraulic heterogeneity of hydrogeological structure based on in-situ data

Onoe, Hironori

Keisan Kogaku, 24(1), p.3851 - 3854, 2019/01

In this study, inverse analysis using observed data of pumping test was carried for confirmation of the applicability of inverse analysis method of groundwater flow based on in-situ data. Target of this inverse analysis was spatial distribution of hydrogeological heterogeneity of the fault. Inverse analysis had been applied to the area around the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory, which is constructed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in order to construct scientific and technological basis for geological disposal of High-level Radioactive Waste. As a result of this study, the estimated results of inverse analysis are consistent with previous study result, and it was concluded that inverse analysis using hydraulic response due to pumping test is effective for hydrogeological characterization in deep underground.

Model calculation of Cr dissolution behavior of ODS ferritic steel in high-temperature flowing sodium environment

Otsuka, Satoshi; Tanno, Takashi; Oka, Hiroshi; Yano, Yasuhide; Kato, Shoichi; Furukawa, Tomohiro; Kaito, Takeji

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 505, p.44 - 53, 2018/07

AA2017-0603.pdf:1.7MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.03.054

A calculation model was constructed to systematically study the effects of environmental conditions (i.e. Cr concentration in sodium, test temperature, axial temperature gradient of fuel pin, and sodium flow velocity) on Cr dissolution behavior. Chromium dissolution was largely influenced by small changes in Cr concentration (i.e. chemical potential of Cr) in liquid sodium in the model calculation. Chromium concentration in sodium coolant, therefore, should be recognized as a critical parameter for the prediction and management of Cr dissolution behavior in the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) core. Because the fuel column length showed no impact on dissolution behavior in the model calculation, no significant downstream effects possibly take place in the SFR fuel cladding tube due to the much shorter length compared with sodium loops in the SFR plant and the large axial temperature gradient. The calculated profile of Cr concentration along the wall-thickness direction was consistent with that measured in BOR-60 irradiation test where Cr concentration in sodium bulk flow was set at 0.07 wt ppm in the calculation.

Modern Radiation Chemistry (Applications), 26; Evolution of water radiolysis studies for measures against post-severe accidents

Nagaishi, Ryuji

Radioisotopes, 66(11), p.601 - 610, 2017/11

https://doi.org/10.3769/radioisotopes.66.601

no abstracts in English