Long-Term Environmental Monitoring of an Operating Deep Geologic Nuclear Waste Repository
Conference
·
OSTI ID:21326068
- Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, IEE NMSU, 1400 University Drive, Carlsbad, NM (United States)
In the present energy dilemma in which we find ourselves, the magnitude of humanity's energy needs requires that we embrace a multitude of various energy sources and applications. Nuclear energy must be a major portion of the distribution. One often-cited strategic hurdle to the commercial production of nuclear energy is the apparent lack of an acceptable nuclear waste repository. This issue has been quietly addressed at the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP; see http://www.wipp.energy.gov), the closest population center of significant size being Carlsbad, New Mexico. WIPP has been operating for about nine years, disposing of over 250,000 drum-equivalents of nuclear waste. From the standpoint of addressing operational and environmental risk, as well as public fear, WIPP has had extensive human health and environmental monitoring. The Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center is in the Institute for Energy and the Environment, in the College of Engineering at New Mexico State University. Located in Carlsbad, NM, CEMRC has been the independent monitoring facility for the area around WIPP from 1993 to the present, i.e., from six years before disposal operations began to nine years of waste disposal operations (www.cemcr.org). Based on the radiological analyses of monitoring samples completed to date for area residents and site workers, and for selected aerosols, soils, sediments, drinking water and surface waters, there is no evidence of increases in radiological contaminants in the region of WIPP that could be attributed to releases from WIPP. Levels of radiological and non-radiological analytes measured since operations began in 1999 have been within the range of baseline levels measured previously, and are within the ranges measured by other entities at the State and local levels since well before disposal phase operations began in 1999. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21326068
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--10-WM-08184
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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