National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste

Committee on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Board on Radioactive Waste Management

Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources

National Research Council

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.
1996

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

Support for this study on the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, under Grant No. DE-FC01-94EW54069. All opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Energy.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 96-68944

International Standard Book Number 0-309-05491-5

Additional copies of this report are available from:
National Academy Press
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Box 285 Washington, DC 20055 800-624-6242 202-334-3313 (in the Washington Metropolitan Area) http://www.nap.edu

Cover: Federal regulations require calculations to show that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), if certified as a transuranic radioactive waste repository, is expected to isolate waste from the environment for the next ten millennia. Current plans call for the erection on site of permanent markers containing signs and symbols, intended as decipherable messages to warn future generations of the dangers to nature and to human health of digging into a filled and sealed repository below the surface.

Coincidentally, ten millennia is also the approximate age of the earliest known pottery from Asia. One millennium ago, a now-extinct Indian tribe, the Mimbres, lived in Arizona and New Mexico. The cover shows a Mimbres pottery design, perhaps representing the delicate balance of nature, using a man and two animals in a mobile arrangement. The Mimbres design is used by permission from Art of a Vanished Race: The Mimbres Classic Black-On-White, by Victor M. Giammattei and Nanci Greer Reichert, Published by Dillon Tyler, Publishers, P.O. Box 645, Calistoga, CA 94515.

The background photograph, provided by the Department of Energy Carlsbad Area Office, shows a close-up of a sample of Permian age salt crystals taken from the WIPP excavations. The permanence of the geologic salt formation (over 200 million years old) is an attractive feature of the WIPP site and illustrates the exceptional time scales of concern in nuclear repository design, time scales that extend well beyond the typical duration of most engineering projects, languages, and civilizations.

Copyright 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

COMMITTEE ON THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT

CHARLES FAIRHURST, Chair,

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

HOWARD ADLER,

Oxyrase, Incorporated, Knoxville, Tennessee

JOHN O. BLOMEKE,

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (retired), Tennessee

SUE B. CLARK,

Washington State University, Pullman

FRED ERNSBERGER,

University of Florida, Gainesville

RODNEY C. EWING,

University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

B. JOHN GARRICK,

PLG, Inc., Newport Beach, California

LEONARD F. KONIKOW,

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia

KONRAD B. KRAUSKOPF,

Stanford University (emeritus), California

DELLA ROY,

Pennsylvania State University (emerita), University Park

DAVID A. WAITE,

CH2M Hill, Bellevue, Washington

CHRIS G. WHIPPLE,

ICF Kaiser Engineers, Oakland, California

THOMAS A. ZORDAN,

Zordan Associates, Murrysville, Pennsylvania

Staff

INA B. ALTERMAN, Senior Staff Officer

ROBERT S. ANDREWS, Senior Staff Officer and Study Director (through December 1995)

THOMAS KIESS, Staff Officer and Study Director (beginning December 1995)

REBECCA BURKA, Senior Project Assistant

DENNIS DUPREE, Senior Project Assistant

ANGELA R. TAYLOR, Project Assistant

ERIKA L. WILLIAMS, Project Assistant

DONNA J. AHRENS, Consultant

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

BOARD ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

MICHAEL C. KAVANAUGH, Chair,

ENVIRON Corporation, Emeryville, California

B. JOHN GARRICK, Vice-Chair,

PLG, Incorporated, Newport Beach, California

JOHN F. AHEARNE,

Sigma Xi and Duke University, The Scientific Research Society, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

JEAN M. BAHR,

University of Wisconsin, Madison

SOL BURSTEIN,

Wisconsin Electric Power (retired), Milwaukee

ANDREW P. CAPUTO,

Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, D.C.

MELVIN W. CARTER,

Georgia Institute of Technology (emeritus), Atlanta

PAUL P. CRAIG,

University of California (emeritus), Davis

MARY R. ENGLISH,

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

ROBERT D. HATCHER, JR.,

University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville

DARLEANE C. HOFFMAN,

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California

JAMES JOHNSON,

Howard University, Washington, D.C.

CHARLES McCOMBIE,

National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, Wettingen, Switzerland

H. ROBERT MEYER,

Keystone Scientific, Inc., Fort Collins, Colorado

PRISCILLA P. NELSON,

University of Texas, Austin

D. KIRK NORDSTROM,

U.S. Geological Survey, Boulder, Colorado

D. WARNER NORTH,

Decision Focus, Incorporated, Mountain View, California

PAUL SLOVIC,

Decision Research, Eugene, Oregon

BENJAMIN L. SMITH, Independent Consultant,

Columbia, Tennessee

Staff

KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Director

ROBERT S. ANDREWS, Senior Staff Officer

KARYANIL T. THOMAS, Senior Staff Officer

THOMAS KIESS, Staff Officer

SUSAN B. MOCKLER, Research Associate

LISA J. CLENDENING, Administrative Assistant

ROBIN L. ALLEN, Senior Project Assistant

REBECCA BURKA, Senior Project Assistant

DENNIS L. DUPREE, Senior Project Assistant

PATRICIA A. JONES, Project Assistant

ANGELA R. TAYLOR, Project Assistant

ERIKA L. WILLIAMS, Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

COMMISSION ON GEOSCIENCES, ENVIRONMENT, AND RESOURCES

GEORGE M. HORNBERGER (Chairman),

University of Virginia, Charlottesville

PATRICK R. ATKINS,

Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

JAMES P. BRUCE,

Canadian Climate Program Board, Ottawa, Ontario

WILLIAM L. FISHER,

University of Texas, Austin

JERRY F. FRANKLIN,

University of Washington, Seattle

DEBRA KNOPMAN,

Progressive Foundation, Washington, D.C.

PERRY L. MCCARTY,

Stanford University, California

JUDITH E. MCDOWELL,

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts

S. GEORGE PHILANDER,

Princeton University, New Jersey

RAYMOND A. PRICE,

Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario

THOMAS C. SCHELLING,

University of Maryland, College Park

ELLEN SILBERGELD,

University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore

STEVEN M. STANLEY,

The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL,

Landers and Parsons, Tallahassee, Florida

Staff

STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director

STEPHEN D. PARKER, Associate Executive Director

MORGAN GOPNIK, Assistant Executive Director

GREGORY SYMMES, Reports Officer

JAMES MALLORY, Administrative Officer

SANDI FITZPATRICK, Administrative Associate

MARQUITA SMITH, PC Analyst & Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering, research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is interim president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and interim vice-chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

Acknowledgments

The committee has spent countless hours over the more than ten years since its last full report on WIPP, in discussions with staff from DOE and its contractors, EPA, officials of the State of New Mexico, the Environmental Evaluation Group, community leaders from Carlsbad, and concerned citizens. In open meetings held several times a year for more than a decade, the committee has heard a wide diversity of views on WIPP.

Genuine concerns have been expressed without rancor or polemics, but with conviction and unfailing courtesy. This is a tribute to the community involved in and concerned about WIPP. For the committee, and particularly the chair, it has been a privilege to have participated in these discussions. We sincerely appreciate all of the information and insights gained and hope that our report will be of value in arriving at an appropriate decision on the proposal to establish a TRU waste site at WIPP.

The committee thanks the many anonymous reviewers who painstakingly read and criticized our report, which has benefitted considerably from their efforts.

Finally, we wish to express our appreciation to staff colleagues of the National Research Council's Board on Radioactive Waste Management, both past and present, who have done much to assist the committee in its task. Particular thanks are due to Tom Kiess, Angela Taylor, and Erika Williams, without whose efforts the report would not have been completed.

Charles Fairhurst, Chair

October 1996

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×

Contents

 

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

1

   

General Conclusions and Recommendations

 

3

   

Summary

 

6

CHAPTER 1

 

INTRODUCTION

 

7

   

Transuranic Waste: What it is, Where it Comes From, Where it Must Go

 

7

   

Geologic Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Salt

 

8

   

History of WIPP

 

10

   

The WIPP Underground Facility Today

 

10

   

The Disposal Plan

 

10

   

Regulation and Licensing of WIPP

 

10

   

Framework for the Report

 

12

CHAPTER 2

 

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND REPOSITORY PERFORMANCE

 

15

   

EPA Standards for Radioactive Waste

 

15

   

Performance Assessment

 

18

   

Radionuclide Release Scenarios

 

24

   

Discussion of PA Modeling Efforts

 

27

   

Discussion of Repository Performance

 

29

   

General Quality of WIPP Performance Assessment Activities

 

32

   

Other Long-Term Radiological Compliance Issues

 

32

   

Conclusions

 

35

CHAPTER 3

 

SALADO HYDROGEOLOGY, GAS PRESSURE, AND ROOM CLOSURE

 

37

   

Salado Hydrogeology

 

37

   

Gas Pressure

 

39

   

Room Closure

 

41

   

The Combined Effects of Brine Inflow, Gas Generation and Room Closure

 

44

   

Summary and Conclusions

 

45

CHAPTER 4

 

ENGINEERING TO IMPROVE PREDICTED REPOSITORY PERFORMANCE

 

47

   

Repository Design and Excavation Alternatives

 

47

   

Sealing of Shafts and Boreholes

 

50

   

Sealing of Rooms and Panels

 

57

   

Conclusions

 

57

CHAPTER 5

 

ACTINIDE SOURCE TERM

 

58

   

Actinide Source Term Model

 

59

   

Schedule

 

62

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
   

Summary and Discussion

 

62

   

Conclusion and Recommendations

 

63

CHAPTER 6

 

NON-SALADO HYDROLOGY

 

65

   

Regional Hydrogeologic Modeling

 

65

   

Flow and Transport Modeling

 

66

   

WIPP 1992 PA Model Analysis

 

68

   

Discussion and Summary of Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations

 

73

   

Perspective Based on International Repository Siting Efforts

 

75

CHAPTER 7

 

PERSPECTIVES

 

77

   

Integrity of the Waste Isolation System

 

77

   

Human Intrusion

 

78

   

Role of Performance Assessment

 

78

   

The Nature and Frequency of Human Intrusion

 

79

   

Retrospective

 

80

 

 

REFERENCES

 

82

 

 

APPENDIXES

 

 

   

A.NATURAL SETTING AND RESOURCES

 

95

   

Geologic Framework

 

95

   

Hydrologic Setting of WIPP

 

99

   

Natural Resources

 

103

   

B.THE COMPLEMENTARY CUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION: THE RISK CURVE

 

110

   

C.BRINE INFLOW TO EXCAVATIONS IN THE SALADO

 

116

   

Permeability of WIPP Salado Anhydrite and Interbeds

 

116

   

One-Dimensional Flow in Anhydrite interbeds in Impermeable Salt

 

117

   

Radial Flow into Excavations in Permeable Salt

 

118

   

Bredehoeft Calculation

 

119

   

Shaft Seals—Approximate Check on PA Flow Calculations

 

120

   

D.CREEP BEHAVIOR OF WIPP SALT

 

123

   

E.ACTINIDE SOURCE TERM

 

129

   

Experimental Work on Actinide Solubilities

 

129

   

Experiments on Colloids

 

132

   

Retardation Experiments

 

132

   

F.REGIONAL HYDROGEOLOGY

 

134

   

Approaches to Studying Regional Aquifer Systems

 

134

   

Ground-Water Models

 

134

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R1
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R2
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R3
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R4
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R5
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R6
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R10
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R11
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." National Research Council. 1996. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5269.
×
Page R12
Next: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY »
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $44.00 Buy Ebook | $35.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This volume discusses the readiness of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility near Carlsbad, New Mexico, to serve as a geological repository for transuranic radioactive waste. WIPP is located in a Permian-age bedded salt deposit 658 meters below the surface. The committee has long reviewed DOE's readiness efforts, now aimed at demonstrating compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations. Site characterization studies and performance assessment modeling are among the topics considered in this volume.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!