Deep geologic disposal of mixed waste in bedded salt: The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Conference · Fri Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:113067

Rempe, N T ^[1]

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1. Westinghouse Electric Corp., Carlsbad, NM (United States). Waste Isolation Div.

Mixed waste (i.e., waste that contains both chemically hazardous and radioactive components) poses a moral, political, and technical challenge to present and future generations. But an international consensus is emerging that harmful byproducts and residues can be permanently isolated from the biosphere in a safe and environmentally responsible manner by deep geologic disposal. To investigate and demonstrate such disposal for transuranic mixed waste, derived from defense-related activities, the US Department of Energy has prepared the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico. This research and development facility was excavated approximately at the center of a 600-m-thick sequence of salt (halite) beds, 655 m below the surface. Proof of the long-term tectonic and hydrological stability of the region is supplied by the fact that these salt beds have remained essentially undisturbed since they were deposited during the Late Permian age, approximately 225 million years ago. Plutonium-239, the main radioactive component of transuranic mixed waste, has a half-life of 24,500 years. Even ten half-lives of this isotope--amounting to about a quarter million years, the time during which its activity will decline to background level--represent only 0.11% of the history of the repository medium. Therefore, deep geologic disposal of transuranic mixed waste in Permian bedded salt appears eminently feasible.

• DOE Contract Number: AC04-86AL31950
• OSTI ID: 113067
• Report Number(s): CONF-930906-; ISBN 0-7918-0691-X; TRN: 95:022368
• Resource Relation: Conference: `93 international conference on nuclear waste management and environmental remediation, Prague (Czech Republic), 5-11 Sep 1993; Other Information: PBD: 1993; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the 1993 international conference on nuclear waste management and environmental remediation. Volume 3: Environmental remediation and environmental management issues; Baschwitz, R.; Kohout, R.; Marek, J.; Richter, P.I.; Slate, S.C. [eds.]; PB: 919 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
WIPP
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
SALT DEPOSITS
OPERATION
SERVICE LIFE
GEOLOGY
PLANNING
SPECIFICATIONS
WASTE FORMS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
DESIGN
EXCAVATION
BRINES
DECOMMISSIONING
WASTE-ROCK INTERACTIONS
GASES
RADIOLYSIS
PERFORMANCE