Critical evaluation of experimental programs in the Culebra aquifer at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
- David T. Snow and Associates, Arvada, CO (United States)
- Environmental Evaluation Group, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a geologic repository for the disposal of transuranic waste from the weapons program. The WIPP must show compliance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency`s standards for high-level and transuranic waste disposal but is not regulated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In performance assessments to show compliance, the only disruptive event considered hitherto is human intrusion by drilling. After closure, the repository will be flooded with brine, and when penetrated by drilling, brine equilibrated with radioactive material will flow up the borehole, and the current anticipation is that contaminated brine will enter the Culebra dolomite, the most transmissive member of the Rustler formation. Culebra dolomite is fractured, slightly porous, and probably heterogeneous. The conceptual model for flow and transport currently used in performance assessment is dual-porosity flow with three radionuclide retardation mechanisms: sorption, matrix diffusion, and corrensite clay sorption. Lee and Chaturvedi have suggested that there is no experimental evidence to support the claim for these retardation mechanisms.
- OSTI ID:
- 411593
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-951006--
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 73; ISSN 0003-018X; ISSN TANSAO
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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