Deep Borehole Disposal Safety Case

Freeze, Geoff A.; Stein, Emily; Brady, Patrick V.; Lopez, Carlos; Sassani, David; Travis, Karl; Gibb, Fergus; Beswick, John

doi:10.3390/en12112141

Deep Borehole Disposal Safety Case

Journal Article · Tue Jun 04 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Energies

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/en12112141· OSTI ID:1526232

Freeze, Geoff A. ^[1]; Stein, Emily ^[1]; Brady, Patrick V. ^[1]; Lopez, Carlos ^[1]; Sassani, David ^[1]; ^[2]; Gibb, Fergus ^[2]; Beswick, John ^[3]

Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Univ. of Sheffield (United Kingdom)
Marriott Drilling Group, Chesterfield (United Kingdom)

The safety case for deep borehole disposal of nuclear wastes contains a safety strategy, an assessment basis, and a safety assessment. The safety strategy includes strategies for management, siting and design, and assessment. The assessment basis considers site selection, pre-closure, and post-closure, which includes waste and engineered barriers, the geosphere/natural barriers, and the biosphere and surface environment. The safety assessment entails a pre-closure safety analysis, a post-closure performance assessment, and confidence enhancement analyses. This work outlines the assessment basis and safety assessment aspects of a deep borehole disposal safety case. The safety case presented here is specific to deep borehole disposal of Cs and Sr capsules, but is generally applicable to other waste forms, such as spent nuclear fuel. The safety assessments for pre-closure and post-closure are briefly summarized from other sources; key issues for confidence enhancement are described in greater detail. These confidence enhancement analyses require building the technical basis for geologically old, reducing, highly saline brines at the depth of waste emplacement, and using reactive-transport codes to predict their movement in post-closure. The development and emplacement of borehole seals above the waste emplacement zone is also important to confidence enhancement.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1526232

Report Number(s):: SAND--2019-4378J; 674823

Journal Information:: Energies, Journal Name: Energies Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 12; ISSN ENERGA; ISSN 1996-1073

Publisher:: MDPI AGCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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