The deep geologic repository (DGR) concept is widely accepted as the most feasible option for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuels. In this concept, a series of engineered and natural barrier systems are combined to safely store spent nuclear fuel and to isolate it from the biosphere for a practically indefinite period of time. Due to the extremely long lifetime of the DGR, the performance of the DGR replies especially on the natural geologic barriers. Assessing the safety of the DGR is thus required to evaluate the impacts of a wide range of geological, hydrogeological, and physicochemical processes including rare geological events as well as present water cycles and deep groundwater flow systems. Due to the time scale and the complexity of the physicochemical processes and geologic media involved, the numerical models used for safety evaluation need to be comprehensive, robust, and efficient. This study describes the development of an accessible, transparent, and extensible integrated hydrologic models (IHM) which can be approved with confidence by the regulators as well as scientific community and thus suitable for current and future safety assessment of the DGR systems. The IHM under development can currently simulate overland flow, groundwater flow, near surface evapotranspiration in a modular manner. The IHM can also be considered as a framework as it can easily accommodate additional processes and requirements for the future as it is necessary. The IHM is capable of handling the atmospheric, land surface, and subsurface processes for simultaneously analyzing the regional groundwater driving force and deep subsurface flow, and repository scale safety features, providing an ultimate basis for seamless safety assessment in the DGR program. The applicability of the IHM to the DGR safety assessment is demonstrated using illustrative examples.

Deep geologic repositories (DGR) are designed to store spent nuclear fuel and to isolate it from the biosphere for an extended period of time as long as millions of years. The long-term performance of the DGR replies on the performance of the natural geologic barriers after the end of the lifetime for the engineered barrier systems. Typically, multiple analytical and numerical models are used to analyze and ensure the safety of the repositories along both engineered and natural barrier systems. Despite the immense advancement in computing power and modeling techniques over the last few decades, a series of models and their linkage often require many simplifying assumptions in this safety assessment. The degree of the reliability and confidence of the safety analysis is thus highly dependent on the validity of those tools used. Considering the significance of the DGR performance and public attention, the highest level of quality control is necessary for the models employed in the assessment. The performance of the ultimate long-term geologic barrier is determined by the expected travel time of the radioactive species of interest, the level of their dilution or radioactivity at compliance areas, and the uncertainty associated with them. As the species of interest can be carried away from the repository location by groundwater flow, the travel time is determined by groundwater velocity along the flow path from source to biosphere while the dilution is a function of the decay and production rates as well as the diffusion and dispersion. Due to the time scale and the complexity of the physicochemical processes and geologic media involved, the models used for safety evaluation will need to become more and more comprehensive, robust, and efficient which is difficult to achieve in principle. They will also need to be transparent and flexible to satisfy the regulatory quality control requirements. This study thus attempts to develop an accessible, transparent, and extensible integrated hydrologic models (IHM) which can be widely accepted by the regulators as well as scientific community and thus suitable for current and future safety assessment of the DGR systems. The IHM can be considered as a tool and a framework at the same time when it is designed to easily accommodate additional processes and requirements for the future as it is necessary. The IHM is capable of handling the atmospheric, land surface, and subsurface processes for simultaneously analyzing the regional groundwater driving force and deep subsurface flow, and repository scale safety features, providing an ultimate basis for seamless safety assessment in the DGR program. The applicability of the IHM to the DGR safety assessment is demonstrated using simple illustrative examples.