The Yucca Mountain Project repository sealing program
Yucca Mountain is being characterized for the development of a high-level nuclear waste repository. The repository is planned to be located in the unsaturated zone in fractured, welded tuff. Sealing of the repository is one element of the Yucca Mountain Project. This paper presents a description of the current sealing design options, design requirements, and the design constraints. Design options for the shafts include anchor-to-bedrock seals, shaft fill, and settlement plugs; in the underground facility, they include drift seals, drainage channels, sumps, and bulkheads. Design requirements are those quantitative requirements imposed on the sealing design options to achieve a desired level of performance. For example, a design requirement could be a restriction on the hydraulic conductivity of a design option. Constraints are restrictions placed on the repository design by the sealing design. An example of a constraint could be establishing the drainage pattern to direct flow from emplacement drifts to nonemplacement drifts. As (1) additional hydrogeologic data are obtained through site characterization, (2) approaches to allocating performance to various subsystems within the Yucca Mountain Project are refined, and (3) the exploratory shafts and the associated testing results are developed, the design requirements and constraints may be modified and used in developing the License Application Design.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 137567
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--89-0590C; CONF-890736--74; ON: DE90003923
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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