Dynamic compaction of salt: Initial demonstration and performance testing
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- RE/SPEC, Inc., Rapid City, SD (United States)
Reconsolidated crushed salt is proposed as the sole long-term shaft seal between the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and the biosphere. The concept for a long-term shaft seal for the WIPP repository is to place crushed salt in the four shafts and to develop an effective seal as the surrounding salt creeps into the shafts, reconsolidating the salt. Permeability of the salt components is calculated to achieve performance objectives at some acceptable time in the future, an expectation which is a key to performance assessment calculations for the WIPP. Such a seal has never been constructed, and until now no performance measurements have been made on an appropriately large scale. A full understanding of construction methods, achievable initial density and permeability and time-wise performance of reconsolidating salt is required. This paper discusses nearly full-scale dynamic compaction of mine-run WIPP salt, preliminary measurements of density and permeability, and their variability within a relatively large volume of compacted material
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 39643
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--94-2313C; CONF-950655--4; ON: DE95004776
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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