

Welcome to the Winter 2007 edition of Quintessa Update, the electronic newsletter of Quintessa Limited

System-level modeling for CO2 storage
As part of the EC Co2GeoNet programme, Quintessa staff working with
colleagues from the British Geological Survey have developed and applied system-level models for the volcanic Latera region
north of Rome. The code used was QPAC-CO2, which is based on Quintessa's general
purpose modeling tool QPAC. Information on the site was supplied by staff from the University of Rome,
which has been involved in studying the area for more than 20 years. This work was funded by the UK
Department of Trade and Industry, now the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.
For more information, please contact Philip Maul.
GraphGrabber - free software download
Have you ever wanted to include a graph in a paper or report when you have lost or do not have
access to the original numerical data? For example you might have a scanned copy of a graph at
poor quality/resolution or have only an image file of the graph, which you would like to reformat
but do not have the original data.
Quintessa has developed GraphGrabber to enable users to retrieve data from graphs in the form of an image file by tracing over the image and capturing the data. GraphGrabber allows new graphs to be plotted using the recovered data or the data to be exported to standard spreadsheet packages.
Please click here for more information and to download GraphGrabber.
Options for LLW management at Sellafield
Quintessa is currently working with Jacobs UK to support Sellafield Limited in carrying out options
studies for the management of low-level radioactive wastes (LLW) that are produced and stored on the
Sellafield site. As in Quintessa's ongoing work to support decision making for plutonium-contaminated
wastes, our role is to provide guidance, independent facilitation, audit and assurance for the public
consultation process and the associated evaluation of alternative management strategies. For more
information, please contact
June Shield at Sellafield.
UKAEA Performance Assessment Workshop
Quintessa recently ran a one-week workshop in Performance Assessment (PA) for technical and project
management staff from UKAEA Dounreay. The workshop was based on training material developed for
the IAEA, and adapted to reflect Dounreay-specific issues. It focused on the use of PA to determine
short and long-term safety and environmental impacts from radioactive waste disposal, radioactively
contaminated land and authorised radioactive discharges. Further information can be obtained from
James Penfold.
Modeling Iron-Bentonite Interactions
As part of the EC NF-PRO project, Quintessa is developing new models
for the alteration of bentonite buffers in contact with corroding iron-based radioactive waste canisters,
to understand their possible long-term transformation to non-swelling iron silicates. In particular, the
QPAC-EBS code is being used to model the Ostwald Step Process to capture the sequential formation of
Fe-bearing minerals observed in natural systems.
New Faces
Quintessa is pleased to welcome Elizabeth Cairns to the Henley office, Laura Limer to the Warrington office
and John Barker as a Quintessa associate. Elizabeth studied for a BSc in biology and worked in scientific
laboratories before joining Quintessa as an administrative assistant. Laura studied mathematics before embarking
on a PhD on the biodiversity in ecosystem functioning and postdoctoral research into the validation of ecosystem
models using remotely sensed data. John has thirty years experience in hydrogeology at BGS and UCL in particular
related to the development of novel mathematical and computational techniques and their application to transport
in fractured aquifers, pumping tests, well hydraulics and tracer tests.
In addition, Quintessa is pleased to welcome Adrian Gallardo, Shoko Tachibana and Colin Walker to Quintessa Japan.
Adrian has a PhD in geo-environmental sciences and works on modelling the saline interface at coastal sites. Shoko
has a master's degree in urban and environment engineering and has worked on the simulation of groundwater flow.
Colin has a PhD in aqueous geochemistry and is currently seconded to JAEA developing low alkaline cements and
modelling cement/host rock interactions.

Seasons Greetings!
Seasons greetings to all our friends around the world and wishing you a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

