Modelling the effect of diffusion into the rock matrix on radionuclide migration

Diffusion into the rock matrix is potentially an important retardation mechanism for nuclides leached from an underground radioactive waste repository in a fractured hard rock. Models of this diffusion process are discussed and incorporated into three-dimensional radionuclide migration models. Simple solutions to these models are derived for two regions: the region near to the repository where the nuclide is diffusing into effectively infinite rock, and that much further downstream where the concentrations in the rock and fractures are almost in equilibrium. These solutions are used to evaluate the possible impact of migration. It is shown that retardation factors in excess of 100 and reductions in the peak concentration at a given point on the flow path by three or four orders of magnitude are possible for non-sorbed ions, which would otherwise be carried by the flow and not retarded at all.