Recent measurements of 36Cl in Yucca Mountain rock, soil and seepage.

Samples of rock, soil and seepage were collected from Yucca Mountain, USA, and analyzed for ³⁶Cl/Cl ratios by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Rock excavated from the Drill Hole Wash fault at repository horizon depths produced a ratio suggesting that small amounts of water with “bomb-pulse” ³⁶Cl had percolated to that site over the past 50 years. Rock from four other sites within the exploratory studies facility did not yield bomb-pulse ratios. Ratios in the soil varied depending on depth and location, with some samples producing bomb-pulse signatures. Ratios for seep water were slightly elevated above the present cosmogenic background value. This paper also discusses results from a column study mimicking the passage of ³⁶Cl through volcanic rock and from an experiment using bromide instead of chloride as a carrier in sample preparation for AMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]