Exploratory Shaft Seismic Design Basis Working Group report; Yucca Mountain Project

Technical Report · Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/137891· OSTI ID:137891

Subramanian, C V ^[1]; King, J L ^[2]; Perkins, D M ^[3]; Mudd, R W ^[4]; Richardson, A M ^[5]; Calovini, J C ^[6]; Van Eeckhout, E ^[7]; Emerson, D O ^[8]

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1. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
2. Science Applications International Corp., Las Vegas, NV (USA)
3. Geological Survey, Denver, CO (USA)
4. Fenix and Scisson, Inc., Tulsa, OK (USA)
5. Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas, Inc., San Francisco, CA (USA)
6. Holmes and Narver, Inc., Las Vegas, NV (USA)
7. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
8. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)

This report was prepared for the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP), which is managed by the US Department of Energy. The participants in the YMP are investigating the suitability of a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for construction of a repository for high-level radioactive waste. An exploratory shaft facility (ESF) will be constructed to permit site characterization. The major components of the ESF are two shafts that will be used to provide access to the underground test areas for men, utilities, and ventilation. If a repository is constructed at the site, the exploratory shafts will be converted for use as intake ventilation shafts. In the context of both underground nuclear explosions (conducted at the nearby Nevada Test Site) and earthquakes, the report contains discussions of faulting potential at the site, control motions at depth, material properties of the different rock layers relevant to seismic design, the strain tensor for each of the waveforms along the shaft liners, and the method for combining the different strain components along the shaft liners. The report also describes analytic methods, assumptions used to ensure conservatism, and uncertainties in the data. The analyses show that none of the shafts` structures, systems, or components are important to public radiological safety; therefore, the shafts need only be designed to ensure worker safety, and the report recommends seismic design parameters appropriate for this purpose. 31 refs., 5 figs., 6 tabs.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 137891
• Report Number(s): SAND--88-1203; ON: DE91000455
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
58 GEOSCIENCES
DATA COVARIANCES
DESIGN
EARTHQUAKES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GROUND MOTION
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
SAFETY
SEISMIC EFFECTS
SEISMIC P WAVES
SEISMIC S WAVES
SHAFT EXCAVATIONS
STRAINS
STRATIGRAPHY
UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
Yucca Mountain Project