The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste (1996) / Chapter Skim
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1 INTRODUCTION
1 INTRODUCTION
Pages 7-14
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From page 7... ...
If approved, WIPP will be the first "deep" designed repository in the world. (The low and intermediate-level radioactive waste repository at Olkiluoto, Finland, is located at a shallower depth of 125 m; the German repository near Morsleben is an abandoned salt mine, not designed initially as a repository.)
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From page 8... ...
In its report, The Disposal of Raclioactive Waste in [and, published in 1957, the committee recommended further work to assess the suitability of burying high-level radioactive wastes in stable geological formations at depths on the order of W7PP: A Potential Solution for the Disposal of Transuranic Waste 500-1,000 m below the surface (NRC, lL957~. Every other country that must deal with radioactive waste isolation, including Belgium, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom, plans to use geological disposal to isolate radioactive waste.
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From page 9... ...
Ibis discrepancy could be resolved by a future change in the numerical estimates of anticipated volumes, or by a future renegotiation to augment the legaDy sp~cified limit, or by waste processing to reduce the volume of the RH-TRU han~orted to WIPP to be less than the volume generated. Both DOE documents and EPA standards measure radioactivity in curies, where one curie, 3.7x10'° disintegrations per second, is the historical unit representing approximately the radioactivity of one gram of radium 226.
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From page 10... ...
THE WIPP UNDERGROUND FACILITY TODAY The WIPP facility is located approximately 658 m below the surface in the layered salt of the Permian Salado Formation (see Figure ES.1~. Four vertical shafts from the surface provide access to the repository horizon and underground excavations.
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From page 11... ...
jJ i i . 0 5 10 ml L I I r I I I 0 5 10 15 km FIGURE 1.1 Location of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site.
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From page 12... ...
Over the past two decades, DOE has conducted an extensive program of investigations to assess the suitability of WIPP as a TRU waste repository-that is, as a site that will adequately isolate the waste from the environment. Sandia National Laboratories has served as chief technical adviser, with help from many sources, including the nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory, several other national laboratories, the U.S.
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From page 13... ...
From there, the radionuclide-contaminated brine could flow more or less horizontally in the regional ground-water system, eventually reaching the accessible environment via a well drilled into the Rustler Formation to provide drinking water for cattle. 13 Detailed investigation of the factors Mat could influence the radionuclides released by the ElE2 and other scenarios has led to the identification of several issues that could be important in demonstrating We suitability of WIPP as a TRU waste repository.
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From page 14... ...
The first seven appendixes to the report provide supplementary information on specific aspects of the chapter discussions. An overview of the WIPP program, intended to assist readers in following the main themes and findings of the report, is presented in Appenclix G
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