News from 2013

News Items

Cafe Scientifique

1 Nov 2013

As reported in the 25th October edition of the Henley Standard, Quintessa has become a sponsor of Cafe Scientifique, where for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine anyone can explore the latest ideas in science and technology. The Henley-on-Thames branch is particulary active in bringing…

An Initial Evaluation of the Nature and Amount of Voidage Associated with an ILW Geological Disposal Facility

7 Oct 2013

In a study of the potential post-closure performance implications of non-encapsulated wastes in standard RWMD containers, Quintessa identified that non-encapsulation of wastes might reduce the barrier performance of cementitious backfill due to formation of voids and collapse structures in the back…

Provision of Expert Support to STUK

7 Oct 2013

Quintessa is providing expert support to the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) for the review and assessment of the construction licence application for the Finnish KBS-3 repository for spent nuclear fuel which is planned to be constructed at Olkiluoto.

ACSIS – A Model to Assess the Potential for Atmospheric Corrosion of Stainless Steel ILW Containers During Storage and the Operational Phase of a UK Geological Disposal Facility

2 Oct 2013

Waste packages containing intermediate-level waste (ILW) are currently being stored prior to emplacement in a deep Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). A multi-disciplinary team led by AMEC is currently carrying out a study for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Radioactive Waste Managemen…

GHGT-11 Papers Published

9 Aug 2013

Elsevier's journal Energy Procedia has just published papers presented at the 11th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies (GHGT-11), which was held in Kyoto, Japan, from 18th - 22nd November 2012. Staff from Quintessa authored or co-authored 7 papers that were presented at this co…

Updating the NEA’s Features, Events and Processes (FEP) Database

31 Jul 2013

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) first published a Features, Events and Processes (FEP) list for geological disposal of radioactive waste in 2000. It is currently being updated by the FEP Task Group of the NEA’s Integration Group for the Safety Case. It is envisaged that the final product will be a…

IAEA Workshop on Implementing the Borehole Disposal of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources

30 Jul 2013

Quintessa is continuing its active participation in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s projects relating to the borehole disposal of disused sealed radioactive sources. Richard Little was an invited expert at the IAEA workshop on “Implementing the Borehole Disposal of Disused Sealed Radioact…

CABARET Geochemical Modelling Software

23 Jul 2013

CABARET (Cement And Bentonite Alteration due to REactive Transport) is a GUI-driven software package developed by Quintessa for simulating reactions between cementitious materials and bentonite in multiple dimensions.

Employee Ownership Day

4 Jul 2013

Quintessa employees are celebrating the UK’s first Employee Ownership Day on Thursday 4 July 2013 alongside other members of the Employee Ownership Association including the John Lewis Partnership. Employee ownership is central to Quintessa's business, offering benefits to its employees and clients…

Updated QPAC Overview Report

1 Jul 2013

A new version of the QPAC Overview Report has been released, which describes some of the latest applications of Quintessa's general-purpose modelling tool QPAC.

Henley Schools Environmental Science Awards

14 Jun 2013

The awards ceremony for the fourth Henley Schools Environmental Science Competition took place on the 5th June at the River & Rowing Museum.

DECOVALEX-2015

17 May 2013

Since 1992 the international DECOVALEX (DEvelopment of COupled models and their VALidation against Experiments) research project has been at the forefront of advancing the understanding of coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes in support of the safe geological disposal o…

Land Contaminated by Accidental Releases of Radioactivity from Fukushima Daiichi

30 Apr 2013

The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011 resulted in a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Radioactive releases occurred to the atmosphere and contamination was found in land within and beyond the exclusion zone set up around the site.

Potential for Buoyant NAPLs to Migrate in the Free Phase from a Geological Disposal Facility

20 Mar 2013

A safety case for the disposal of intermediate level waste (ILW) in a deep Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) requires consideration of the potential for a discrete light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) to form in disposal vaults, and the subsequent potential impact that might arise. A team from…

Understanding the Post-Closure Thermal Impact of HLW/SF Packages

15 Mar 2013

Knowledge of the maximum temperature reached at any point in the disposal system and the time period over which the temperature is predicted to exceed certain threshold values is an important input into a number of decisions regarding disposal concept selection and subsequent facility design. Quin…

Methane Release from Warming-induced Hydrate Dissociation

14 Mar 2013

Kate Thatcher is the lead author on a paper ‘Methane release from warming-induced hydrate dissociation in the West Svalbard continental margin: Timing, rates, and geological controls’ that has been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Quintessa Supports SSM’s Regulatory Review of SKB’s SR-Site Safety Assessment

11 Mar 2013

On 16 March 2011, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) received a licence application submitted by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) for construction of a spent nuclear fuel repository to be located in Forsmark, Östhammar Municipality. SSM have appointed internati…

AMBER 5.6 Released

28 Feb 2013

Quintessa is committed to the long-term development and support of the AMBER software tool that allows users to build their own deterministic and probabilistic dynamic compartment models to represent the migration, degradation and fate of contaminants in environmental and engineered systems. The la…

Options and Key Controls for the Disposal of Uranium Wastes

14 Jan 2013

A significant component of the UK baseline inventory is separated uranium. The vast majority of this separated uranium is Depleted, Natural and Low Enriched Uranium (DNLEU). If all of the DNLEU contained in the current baseline inventory were to be disposed of in a Geological Disposal Facility, D…

Kishan Patel joins Quintessa

2 Jan 2013

Kishan Patel has joined Quintessa's Henley-on-Thames office, where he is a member of the mathematics and software team involved in developing and applying a number of in-house software packages including QPAC and AMBER. Kishan studied for a BSc in Mathematics and Physics at the University of Warwic…