Near-field chemical composition of porewaters in a near-surface low-level radioactive waste vault

A long-term waste degradation experiment has been performed with actual low-level radioactive wastes (LLRW) at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL), to support the licensing and modelling efforts for near-surface disposal. The wastes consist of paper, mop heads, paper towels, used clothing, etc. The wastes were compacted into bales and sealed into separate steel containers, which were connected to leachate collection systems for sampling. The leachates collected had a composition typical of landfill leachates. The major inorganic ions were Na, Ca, Cl, and Fe, and the ionic strength was similar to 0.05 M. The relative distribution of inorganic ions in the leachates was remarkably similar between bales. Volatile fatty acids (VFA) were the major species of dissolved organic carbon (DOC; total DOC up to 7000 mg/L). A typical composition of leachates is proposed, which can be used in geochemical and source term modelling.