Consequence Analysis of Fluvial Erosion Scenarios for an HLW Repository

In Japan, uplift/erosion scenarios must be analysed even if they occur far in the future, as no assessment cut-off times have yet been defined. For this purpose, the geological record of river terrace formation and their long-term evolution have been studied further, with the aim of constructing a better defined fluvial erosion model than the original, rather simple cyclic fluvial erosion model developed in a previous study. The developed conceptual model, based on a generalization of field observations in relevant settings, allows the consequences of erosion of the repository to be assessed just as before, using comparisons with natural radionuclide fluxes. Results illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the H12 HLW disposal system and indicate that erosion scenarios are unlikely to be critical for distinguishing between different sites that lie in similar mid-range river settings.