Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:15:10.154Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Demonstration of Safety for Geologic Disposal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Edward C. Taylor ,
Lawrence D. Ramspott  and
William M. Sprecher
Edward C. Taylor
Affiliation:
TRW Environmental Safety Systems, 2650 Park Tower Drive, Suite 800, Vienna, VA 22180
Lawrence D. Ramspott
Affiliation:
TRW Environmental Safety Systems, P. O. Box 808, Livermore, CA 94550
William M. Sprecher
Affiliation:
U. S. Department of Energy, Washington DC 20585
Get access

Abstract

The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) is developing a nuclear waste management system that will accept high-level radioactive waste, transport it, store it, and ultimately emplace it in a deep geologic repository. The key activity now is determining whether Yucca Mountain, Nevada is suitable as a site for the repository. If so, the crucial technological advance will be the demonstration that disposal of nuclear waste will be safe for thousands of years after closure. This paper assesses the impact of regulatory developments, legal developments, and scientific developments on such a demonstration.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 333: Symposium V – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XVII , 1993 , 199
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1 Waste Isolation Systems Panel, Board on Radioactive Waste Management, National Research Council, A Study of the Isolation System for Geologic Disposal of Radioactive Wastes (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1983) 345 pp.Google Scholar
2 Roseboom, E. H. Jr., Disposal of High-Level Nuclear Waste Above the Water Table in Arid Regions, Geological Survey Circular 903 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, National Research Council, Radioactive Waste Repository Licensing. Synopsis of a Symposium sponsored by the Board of Radioactive Waste Management (National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1990) p. 64.Google Scholar
4 Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, Fifth Report to the U. S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of Energy (U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1992) p. F–5.Google Scholar
5 Radioactive Waste Management Committee, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee, International Atomic Energy Agency, Disposal of Radioactive Waste: Can Long-Term Safety Be Evaluated? (Nuclear Energy Agency Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1991), 24 pp.Google Scholar
6 Ayala, F. J. and Black, B., Science and the Courts, American Scientist 81, 230 (1993).Google Scholar
7 Huber, P., Galileo’s Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom (BasicBooks, New York, 1991) 280 pp.Google Scholar
8 U. S. Supreme Court, Ruling on William Dauhert and Joyce Dauhert. Individually and as Guardians Ad Litem for Jason Dauhert. and Anita De Young. Individually and as Guardian Ad Litem for Eric Schuller. Petitioners, v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. Inc.. Respondent. The United States Law Week, 6-29-93, 61 LW 4805.Google Scholar
9 Illinois Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility Siting Commission, Commission Deliberations in the Matter of the Safety and Suitability of the Martinsville Alternative Site. October 9. 1991 (Recorded by Wolfe, Rosenberg & Associates, Inc., 188 W. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601, 1991), 104 pp.Google Scholar
10 Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, State of Nevada, Ruling in the matter of Application 52338 filed to appropriate the waters from an underground source within the Forty Mile Canyon-Jackass Flats Groundwater Basin. Nye County. Nevada (March 1, 1992), 52 pp.Google Scholar
11 Oreskes, N., Shrader-Frechette, K., and Belitz, K., Verification. Validation, and Confirmation in Hvdrological and Geochemical Models, Proceedings of the AGU-MSA-GS Spring Meeting (published as a supplement to EOS, April 20,1993), 325.Google Scholar
12 Konikow, L. F. and Bredehoeft, J. D., Ground-Water Models: The Validation Myth, Proceedings of the AGU-MSA-GS Spring Meeting, (published as a supplement to EOS, April 20, 1993), 325.Google Scholar
13 Nordstrom, D. K., On Evaluating and Applying Aqueous Geochemical Models, Proceedings of the AGU-MSA-GS Spring Meeting, (published as a supplement to EOS, April 20, 1993), 326.Google Scholar
14 McCombie, C., Zuidema, P., McKinley, I. G., Sufficient Validation: The value of robustness in performance assessment and system design, Proc. NEA/SKI Symposium on “Validation of Geosphere Flow and Transport Models (GEOVAL)” (Stockholm, 1990).Google Scholar
15 Pigford, T. H., The Role of Performance Assessment in Validation. Regulation, and Public Acceptance, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Third International Conference (1992), pp 99–101.Google Scholar
16 Baer, T. A., Olague, N. E., Price, L. L., and Conrad, S. H., Results from the Second Performance Assessment Iteration for the Greater Confinement Disposal Facility, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 252–260.Google Scholar
17 Long, A. and Childs, S. W., Rainfall and Net Infiltration Probabilities for Future Climate Conditions at Yucca Mountain, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 112–121.Google Scholar
18 Hevesi, J. A. and Flint, A. L., The Influence of Seasonal Climatic Variability on Shallow Infiltration at Yucca Mountain, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 122–131.Google Scholar
19 Gauthier, J. H., The Most Likely Ground water Flux Through the Unsaturated Tuff Matrix at USWH-1, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 146–151.Google Scholar
20 Flint, A. L., Flint, L. E., Hevesi, J. A., The Influence of Long Term Climate Change on Net Infiltration at Yucca Mountain. Nevada. High Level Radioactive Waste Management. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 152–159.Google Scholar
21 Hoxie, D. T.. A Conceptual Model for the Unsaturated-Zone Hvdrological System. Yucca Mountain, Nevada, Radioactive Waste Management and the Nuclear Fuel Cycle 13 (1989) 63–75 (1989).Google Scholar
22 Peters, R.R. and Klavetter, E. A., A Continuum Model for Water Movement in an Unsaturated Fractured Rock Mass, Water Resources Research 24, 416–430 (1988).Google Scholar
23 Doughty, C. and Pruess, K., A Similarity Solution for Two-Phase Water. Air, and Heat Flow Near a Linear Heat Source ina Porous Medium, Journal of Geophysical Research 97,1821–1838 (1992).Google Scholar
24 Zimmerman, R. W., Bodvarrson, G. S., and Kwicklis, E. M., Absorption of Water Into Porous Blocks of Various Shapes and Sizes, Water Resources Research 26,2797–2806 (1990).Google Scholar
25 Miller, E. E. and Miller, R. D., Physical Theory for Capillary Flow Phenomena, Journal of Applied Physics 27, (1956).Google Scholar
26 Pruess, K., JWang, S. Y., and Tsang, Y. W., On Thermohydrologic Conditions Near High Level Nuclear Wastes Emplaced in Partially Saturated Fractured Tuff 1. Simulation Studies with Explicit Consieration of Fracture Effects, Water Resources Research 26, 1235–1248 (1990).Google Scholar
27 Pruess, K., Wang, J. S. Y., and Tsang, Y. W., On Thermohydrologic Conditions Near High Level Nuclear Wastes Emplaced in Partially Saturated Fractured Tuff 2. Effective Continuum Approximation, Water Resources Research 26, 1249–1261 (1990).Google Scholar
28 Tsang, Y. W. and Pruess, K., A Study of Thermally Induced Convectin Near a High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository in Partially Saturated Fractured Tuff, Water Resources Research 23, 1958–1966(1987).Google Scholar
29 Nitao, J. J., Theory of Matrix and Fracture Flow Regimes in Unsaturated. Fractured Porous Media, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Second International Conference (1991), pp. 845–852 Google Scholar
30 Buscheck, T. A., Nitao, J. J., and Chesnut, D. A., The Impact of Episodic Nonequilibrium Fracture-Matrix Flow on Geological Repository Performance, UCRL-JC-106759 (1991).Google Scholar
31 Pruess, K. and Tsang, Y., Modeling of Strongly Heat Driven Flow Processes at a Potential High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository at Yucca Mountain, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 568–575.Google Scholar
32 Tsang, Y. W., Pruess, K., and Wang, J. S. Y., The Role of Fault Zone in Affecting Multiphase Flow at Yucca Mountain, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 660–666.Google Scholar
33 Wittwer, C. S., Chen, G., and Bodvarsson, G. S., Studies of the Role of Fault Zones on Fluid Flow Using the Site-Scale Numerical Model of Yucca Mountain, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 667–674.Google Scholar
34 Wang, J. S. Y., Cook, N. G. W., Wollenberg, H. A., Carnahan, C. L., Javandel, I., and Tsang, C. F., Geohydrologic Data and Models of Rainier Mesa and Their Implications to Yucca Mountain, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 675–681.Google Scholar
35 Ryder, E. E., Comparison of Predicted Far-Field Temperature for Discrete and Smeared Heat Sources, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 841–846.Google Scholar
36 Buscheck, T. A. and Nitao, J. J., The Analysis of Repository-Heat-Driven Hydrothermal Flow at Yucca Mountain, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 847–867.Google Scholar
37 Gottlieb, P., Packer, B., King, J., Bailey, W., Systems Implications of Repository Thermal Loading, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference (1993), pp. 874–879.Google Scholar
38 McCombie, C., McKindley, I. G., Zuidema, P., How Much Must the Geologic Barrier Contribute to Safe HLW Disposal? High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the Second International Conference (1991), pp. 291–195.Google Scholar
39 McCombie, C., McKinley, I. G., Zuidema, P., Nagra performance assessment of radioactive waste disposal in crystalline and sedimentary host rocks, High Level Radioactive Waste Management, Proceedings of the First International Conference (1990), pp. 1–9.Google Scholar
40 U. S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, Fifth Report to the U. S. Congress and the U.S. Secretary of Energy, (U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C, 1992) p. xv.Google Scholar
41 U. S. Department of Energy, Site Characterization Plan. Yucca Mountain Site. Nevada Research and Development Area. Nevada, (U. S. Department of Energy, 1988), p. 8.0–4.Google Scholar
42 Conca, J. L., Salter, P. F., Apted, M. J., Gravel Backfill as a Hydraulic and Diffusion Barrier, briefing and supporting note for Workshop on Yucca Mountain Engineered Barriers System Concepts, (June 18–20, 1991), 22 pp.Google Scholar