Implications of large-scale heterogeneities for hydraulic model studies at the potential site of a radioactive waste repository at Gorleben, Germany

Modelling groundwater contamination above a nuclear waste repository at Gorleben, Germany

“…The monograph synthesises the work performed from 1979 to 2000. Another review of the pre-moratorium period is presented by Ludwig et al (2001). Two variablesalinity flow simulations but no contaminant-transport simulations were performed prior to the moratorium.…”

“…Two variablesalinity flow simulations but no contaminant-transport simulations were performed prior to the moratorium. Vogel and Schelkes (1996) calculated the variable-salinity flow in two dimensions but the ambitious project of modelling the whole of the 350 km 2 Gorleben exploration area (Klemenz et al 1998;Ludwig et al 2001) was never completed. Only the first test run for a small part of the exploration area is documented: "Because of the potential restrictions of the software and hardware, a generic and simplified model based on the characteristics of the Gorleben site was set up.…”

“…The aim of this model was to gain experience in simulating fully coupled groundwater flow and salt transport at the regional scale in three dimensions as well as to study the variable-density spatial distribution and its influence on the groundwater movement" (Klemenz et al 1998). "But, nevertheless, even this model is far from a realistic groundwater flow field" (Ludwig et al 2001).…”

Solving density driven flow problems with efficient spatial discretizations and higher-order time integration methods

“…The need for accurate models to simulate the transport of salt water continues to increase due to a large number of environmental problems such as saltwater intrusion in exploited coastal aquifers [52] or aquifers overlying salt formations, leakage from landfills, and disposal of radioactive or toxic wastes in salt rock formations [45]. Density effects can also alter tracer tests' interpretations which can lead to erroneous estimates of transport parameters [8,68].…”

Radioactive Wastes

“…Comparison of measured and calculated hydrochemical data from the investigation showed the importance and validity of incorporating hydrogeological structures in flow and transport models (Ludwig et al, 2001). The radionuclide migration from a Chinese repository for LLW and ILW was studied by .…”