Development of a Kinetic Model to Predict the Rate of Oxidation and Dissolution of Nuclear Fuel (UO@) by the Radiolysis of Water

This report is the second in the series of updates of technical progress in the canadian nuclear fuel waste management program. the preceding update, tr-700-1, was released in april 1995. a concept for the disposal of canada's nuclear fuel waste, developed under the nuclear fuel waste management program, is currently being reviewed by a federal environmental assessment panel appointed in 1989. the environmental impact statement (eis) was submitted to the panel in october 1994 along with nine previously released primary references. we previously issued semi-annual status reports (technical record series 425) on the research performed in the nuclear fuel waste management program. preparation of these reports has been suspended for the duration of the review of the disposal concept. the last issue covers the period october 1993 to march 1994. the semi-annual status reports are being replaced with what will be more frequent technical updates (tr-700 series) on technical highlights emerging from the nuclear fuel waste management program during the review. scientific research highlighted in this number of the technical record tr-700 relates to the revised regional groundwater flow model of the whiteshell research area, some results from the buffer/container experiment, sensitivity analysis of the waste exclusion distance, effects of organics on transport of radionuclides and some aspects of thermal-mechanical analyses of rock stability. the literature listed at the end of this report provides a more comprehensive view of the research that has been ongoing in the nuclear fuel waste management program since the release of the environmental impact statement (eis) and its nine primary reference documents (prds) in october 1994, and the preceding update, tr-700-1.