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Title: Probability encoding of hydrologic parameters for basalt: Elicitation of expert opinions from a panel of five consulting hydrologists

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5273931

The Columbia River Basalts Underlying the Hanford Site in Washington State are being considered as a possible location for a geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste. To investigate the feasibility of a repository at this site, the hydrologic parameters of the site must be evaluated. Among hydrologic parameters of particular interest are the effective porosity of the Cohassett flow top and flow interior and the vertical-to-horizontal hydraulic conductivity, or anisotropy ratio, of the Cohassett flow interior. Site-specific data for these hydrologic parameters are currently inadequate. To obtain credible, auditable, and independently derived estimates of the specified hydrologic parameters for the purpose of preliminary assessment of candidate repository performance, a panel of five nationally recognized hydrologists was assembled. Their expert judgments were quantified during two rounds of Delphi process by means of a probability encoding method developed to estimate the probability distributions of the selected hydrologic variables. 210 refs., 12 figs., 5 tabs.

Research Organization:
Rockwell International Corp., Richland, WA (USA). Rockwell Hanford Operations
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/RW
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-77RL01030
OSTI ID:
5273931
Report Number(s):
RHO-BWI-TA-010; ON: TI90004802; TRN: 90-003021
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English