v Model Simulation for the Management of Tritiated Irrigation Water at SRS

Tritiated water is a major source of contamination at the Savannah River Site, a nuclear weapons site belonging to the US Department of Energy. In our project, we are currently using FEMWATER, a module of the GMS suite of groundwater software. It is a 3-D finite element code for coupled flow and transport simulations.

http://watercenter.environ.sc.edu/projectpages/model_simulation.htm

v Understanding Long-term Solute Transport in Sedimentary Basins: Simulating Brine Migration in the Alberta Basin, Canada

The Alberta Basin in Canada is an extensively studied sedimentary basin, widely known for its energy and mineral resources. The distribution of its resources, the formation of ore deposits and the migration and accumulation of hydrocarbons are greatly affected by the flow of formation waters in the basin (Bachu, 1995). The freshwaters in the Alberta Basin overlie ancient brines and evaporates. There is, however, a strong disparity between hydrogeologic (Deming and Nunn, 1991; Appold and Garven, 1999) and geochemical estimates (Spencer, 1987; Walter et al., 1990; Connolly et al., 1990a; Stueber and Walter, 1991) of the residence time of brines in this basin. The purpose of my thesis is to take into consideration both the hydrogeologic results as well as the geochemical observations to simulate solute transport in the basin. To achieve this, I will use the numerical code, COMPACT, (Wilson et al., 1999) and modify it to add reactive transport capabilities. This study will help us gain a numerical understanding of solute transport processes in sedimentary basins.