Krypton-81 in groundwater of the Culebra Dolomite near the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, New Mexico

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is the first geologic repository for disposal of transuranic nuclear waste from defense-related programs of the US Department of Energy. It is constructed within halite beds of the Permian-age Salado Formation. The Culebra Dolomite, confined within Rustler Formation evaporites overlying the Salado Formation, is a potential pathway for radionuclide transport from the repository to the accessible environment in the human-disturbed repository scenario. Although extensive subsurface characterization and numerical flow modeling of groundwater has been done in the vicinity of the WIPP, few studies have used natural isotopic tracers to validate the flow models and to better understand solute transport at this site. The advent of Atom-Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) has enabled routine measurement of cosmogenic 81Kr (half-life 229,000yr), a near-ideal tracer for long-term groundwater transport. We measured 81Kr in saline groundwater sampled from two Culebra Dolomite monitoring wells near the WIPP site, and compared 81Kr model ages with reverse particle-tracking results of well-calibrated flow models. The 81Kr model ages are ~130,000 and ~330,000yr for high-transmissivity and low-transmissivity portions of the formation, respectively. Compared with flow model results which indicate a relatively young mean hydraulic age (~32,000yr), the 81Kr model ages imply substantial physical attenuation of conservative solutes in the Culebra Dolomite and provide limits on the effective diffusivity of contaminants into the confining aquitards. •A new tool for groundwater dating (81-Kr) is evaluated in a saline aquifer.•Well-calibrated hydraulic flow model is compared with 81-Kr model age.•Effect of matrix diffusion on 81-Kr model age is evaluated.•Results indicate low apparent values of effective matrix diffusivity for 81-Kr.