Abstract
A programme of research is being carried out on behalf of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution, UK to investigate the hydraulic and transport characteristics of the rocks beneath Sellafield, Ctunbria. The aims of the research are twofold: First, to establish the data requirements to identify potential hazard from the long term disposal of radioactive waste in the deep fractured rock formations of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group (BVG). The Sellafield site is currently being investigated by UK Nirex Ltd. as a possible location for a deep radioactive waste repository in the UK. Second, to develop a model of the site hydrogcology, consistent with the observed information.
This paper concentrates on investigating the vertical correlation structure of the flowing features in the BVG. This involves not only analysis of the permeability data, but also a geostatistical investigation of the Nirex sampling procedure. Numerical experiments are performed to investigate the effects of regular interval sampling on an assessment of correlated fault permcabilities. This enables an informed interpretation of the Nirex measurement data. Using statistical inference techniques, these results will form part of the basis for generation of hydraulic property realisations for use in flow and transport calculations. Accurate characterisation of the geometry and hydraulic properties of the faults within the BVG will have a significant effect on the reliability of future radionuclide transport predictions in the Sellafield area.
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References
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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Lunn, R.J., Mackay, R. (1997). Geostatistical Analysis of Fractured Rock Characteristics. In: Soares, A., Gómez-Hernandez, J., Froidevaux, R. (eds) geoENV I — Geostatistics for Environmental Applications. Quantitative Geology and Geostatistics, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1675-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1675-8_3
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