Intercomparison of reactive transport models applied to UO2 oxidative dissolution and uranium migration

Oxidative dissolution of uranium dioxide (UO2) and the subsequent migration of uranium in a subsurface environment and an underground waste disposal have been simulated with reactive transport models. In these systems, hydrogeological and chemical processes are closely entangled and their interdependency has been analyzed in detail, notably with respect to redox reactions, kinetics of mineralogical evolution and hydrodynamic migration of species of interest. Different codes, where among CASTEM, CHEMTRAP and HYTEC, have been used as an intercomparison and verification exercise. Although the agreement between codes is satisfactory, it is shown that the discretization method of the transport equation (i.e. finite elements (FE) versus mixed-hybrid FE and finite differences) and the sequential coupling scheme may lead to systematic discrepancies.