The Peña Blanca Natural Analog Project

Mineralogic Studies of the Peña Blanca Natural Analog Project

Peña Blanca Natural Analog Project Home

Overview

Mineralogic Studies

Uranium Transport Studies

Isotopic Studies

Peña Blanca Data in Yucca Mountain Performance Assessment

Bibliography


	Transmitted light photomicrograph of red-colored ianthinite filling open space within a breccia fragment. The ianthinite is being replaced by yellow-colored schoepite and uranophane. Scale - 0.8 mm across

Natural uraninite is similar in structure and composition to spent nuclear fuel. The presence of uraninite and its alteration to secondary uranium minerals at Nopal I is a fortuitous analogy in relation to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository.

Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA) staff published information about uranium minerals found at Nopal I, their paragenesis, the composition of Nopal I uraninite, and a comparison of Nopal I uranium mineralogy to nuclear fuel corrosion experiments in Applied Geochemistry (Abstract). Studies of non-uranium minerals at Nopal I have been utilized to evaluate mechanisms and timing of uranium transport at the deposit. Details about uranium and non-uranium mineralogy are available in a PDF.

For more information about natural analog studies in the Sierra Peña Blanca or CNWRA research at Nopal I, contact James D. Prikryl at jprikryl@swri.org or call (210) 522-5667.

Contact Information

James D. Prikryl

Peña Blanca Natural Analog Project

(210) 522-5667

jprikryl@swri.org

Related Terminology

Sierra Peña Blanca

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Nopal I uranium deposit

Sierra Peña Blanca

uraninite alteration

Yucca Mountain

performance assessment modeling of nuclear waste geologic repositories