A compound power-law model for volcanic eruptions: Implications for risk assessment of volcanism at the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Technical Report · Mon Oct 17 04:00:00 EDT 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/196577· OSTI ID:196577

Ho, Chih-Hsiang ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States). Dept. of Mathematical Sciences

Much of the ongoing debate on the use of nuclear power plants in U.S.A. centers on the safe disposal of the radioactive waste. Congress, aware of the importance of the waste issue, passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, requiring the federal government to develop a geologic repository for the permanent disposal of high level radioactive wastes from civilian nuclear power plants. The Department of Energy (DOE) established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in 1983 to identify potential sites. When OCRWM had selected three potential sites to study, Congress enacted the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987, which directed the DOE to characterize only one of those sites, Yucca Mountain, in southern Nevada. For a site to be acceptable, theses studies must demonstrate that the site could comply with regulations and guidelines established by the federal agencies that will be responsible for licensing, regulating, and managing the waste facility. Advocates and critics disagree on the significance and interpretation of critical geological features which bear on the safety and suitability of Yucca Mountain as a site for the construction of a high-level radioactive waste repository. Recent volcanism in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain is readily recognized as an important factor in determining future public and environmental safety because of the possibility of direct disruption of a repository site by volcanism. In particular, basaltic volcanism is regarded as direct and unequivocal evidence of deep-seated geologic instability. In this paper, statistical analysis of volcanic hazard assessment at the Yucca Mountain site is discussed, taking into account some significant geological factors raised by experts. Three types of models are considered in the data analysis. The first model assumes that both past and future volcanic activities follow a homogeneous Poisson process (HPP).

• Research Organization: Nevada Nuclear Waste Project Office, Carson City, NV (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG08-85NV10461
• OSTI ID: 196577
• Report Number(s): DOE/NV/10461--T54; ON: DE96006618
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RISK ASSESSMENT
SEISMIC EVENTS
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
SPENT FUELS
STATISTICAL DATA
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
UNDERGROUND STORAGE
VOLCANISM
YUCCA MOUNTAIN