THE USE OF NUMERICAL MODELS IN SUPPORT OF SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT STUDIES FOR GEOLOGICAL REPOSITORIES

The paper is describing work being developed in the frame of a 5-year IAEA Coordinated Research Programme (CRP) started in late 2005. Participants gained knowledge of modelling methodologies and experience in the development and use of rather sophisticated simulation tools in support of site characterization and performance assessment calculations. These goals were achieved by a coordinated effort, in which the advantages and limitations of numerical models are examined and demonstrated through a comparative analysis of simplified, illustrative test cases. This knowledge and experience should help them address these issues in their own country's nuclear waste program. Coordination efforts during the first three years of the project aimed at enabling this transfer of expertise and maximizing the learning experience of the participants as a group. This was accomplished by identifying common interests of the participants (i.e., Process Modelling and Total System Performance Assessment methodology), and by defining complementary tasks that are solved by the members. Synthesis of all available results by comparative assessments is planned in the coming months. The project will be completed end of 2010. This paper is summarizing activities up to November 2009.