A MODEL FOR RADIATION ENERGY DEPOSITION IN NATURAL URANIUM-BEARING SYSTEMS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES TO WATER RADIOLYSIS

Water radiolysis is of great concern in the concept of final disposal of nuclear waste in geological formations. In this paper, a model is d eveloped for radiation energy deposition and its consequences to water radiolysis. The model concepts are based on radiation energy depositi on in the porewater and other constituents of a uranium ore (the Cigar Lake uranium deposit). Radiation is randomly generated within grains of uranium minerals in the ore, by the Monte Carlo method. The radiati on energy is then allowed to deposit into the various constituents of the ore. The fraction of the total radiation energy absorbed by water is obtained, and the oxidant production rate is calculated with G-valu es of water. When back-reactions of the oxidants and reductants projec ted by other researchers in similar systems are accounted for, the cal culated oxidant production rate is in agreement with that predicted by mass transport models.