Rethinking High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal A Position Statement of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management (1990) / Chapter Skim
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public alike, encouraging the public to expect absolute certainty about the safety of the repository for 10,000 years and encouraging DOE program managers to pretend that they can provide it. For historical and institutional reasons, DOE managers tend to feel compelled to do things perfectly the first time, rather than to make changes in concept and design as unexpected geological features are encountered and
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Scientific Consensus on Geological Isolation There is a strong worldwide consensus that the best, safest long-term option for dealing with HEW is geological isolation. High-level waste should be put into specially designed and engineered facilities underground, where the local geology and groundwater conditions have been chosen to ensure isolation of the waste for tens of thousands of years or longer, and where waste materials will migrate very slowly if they come into contact with the rock.
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What it does mean is that a range of results are possible, and a successful management plan must accommodate residual uncertainties and still provide reasonable assurance of safety. Second, safety is in part a social judgment, not just a technical one.
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This distinction has often been ignored. Indeed, the very existence of large databases and sophisticated computer models suggests, erroneously, that it is appropriate to design a geological repository as if it were a nuclear power plant or jet airliner, both of which have predictable attributes over their short lifetimes.
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Similarly, when there are technical disputes over characteristics and processes that affect calculations of waste transport, sensitivity analysis with alternative models and parameters can indicate where further analysis and data are required and where enough is known to move on to other concerns. It may even turn out to be appropriate to delay permanent closure of a waste repository until adequate assurances concerning its long-term behavior can be obtained through continued in-site geological studies.
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The need for a fair process is simply stated: people feel threatened by radioactive waste; and they deserve to be taken seriously in the decisionmaking process. The sense of threat is often ill informed, in a narrow technical sense, but when that occurs, it is the duty of technical experts and program managers to provide information and employ analyses that will be credible to the affected populations.
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program seems unlikely to achieve that desirable goal. The Board proposes an alternative approach that is built on well-defined goals and objectives, utilizes established scientific principles, and can be achieved in stages with appropriate review by regulatory and oversight bodies and with demonstrated management capabilities.
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Where there is scientific agreement that the analogy applies, this approach provides a check on performance assessment methodology and may be more meaningful than sophisticated numerical predictions to the lay public. A second element is to use professional judgment of technical experts as an input to modeling in areas where there is uncertainty as to parameters, structures, or even future events.
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In judging disposal options, therefore, it is essential to bear in mind that the comparison is not so much between ideal systems and imperfect reality as it is between a geologic repository and at-surface storage. From that standpoint, both technical experts and the general public would be reassured by a conservative engineering approach toward long-term safety, combined with an institutional structure designed to permit flexibility and remediation.
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