Fracture mapping at the Spent Fuel Test-Climax

Abstract

Mapping of geologic discontinuities has been done in several phases at the Spent Fuel Test-Climax (SFT-C) in the granitic Climax stock at the Nevada Test Site. Mapping was carried out in the tail drift, access drift, canister drift, heater drifts, instrumentation alcove, and receiving room. The fractures mapped as intersecting a horizontal datum in the canister and heater drifts are shown on one figure. Fracture sketch maps have been compiled as additional figures. Geologic mapping efforts were scheduled around and significantly impacted by the excavation and construction schedules. Several people were involved in the mapping, and over 2500 geologic discontinuities were mapped, including joints, shears, and faults. Some variance between individuals' mapping efforts was noticed, and the effects of various magnetic influences upon a compass were examined. The examination of compass errors improved the credibility of the data. The compass analysis work is explained in Appendix A. Analysis of the fracture data will be presented in a future report.

Modeling of Groundwater Flow and Radionuclide Transport at the Climax Mine sub-CAU, Nevada Test Site

“…The SFT-C database consists of data on joints, faults, and shear zones (n = 2,591) that were collected during fracture mapping efforts at four drifts (North Heater, Canister, South Heater, and Tail), an alcove, and an area referred to as a receiving room (Wilder and Yow, 1981). The orientation (N61°W) of the Canister and two Heater drifts is based on joint data collected from tunnels of the Pile Driver test that indicate two dominant fracture strike directions: N60°-75°W and N30°-45°E (Maldonado, 1977;Carlson et al, 1980).…”

Instrumentation Report No. 3: performance and reliability of instrumentation deployed for the Spent Fuel Test - Climax

“…1), and is located 420 m below the surface in a granitic intrusive. Al though the facility is about 150 m above the re gional water table, water seeps into the under ground workings along geologic fractures, shears, and faults (Wilder and Yow, 1981). As a result of the test, the temperatures of a large volume of the rock and various test components were increased to as high as 85 and 145°C, respectively.…”

Analysis of fracturing in hole UG-2 Spent Fuel Test-Climax

“…Previous underground raapping [1,2] has shown this joint se! : to be pervasive, x' = cos (s + n) ' cos a n y' = sin (B + it) • cos a n 11)…”