Report on geologic exploration activities

Technical Report · Mon Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5201055· OSTI ID:5201055

This report provides an overview of the geological exploration activities being carried out as part of the National Waste Terminal Storage (NWTS) Program, which has been established by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop the technology and provide the facilities for the safe, environmentally acceptable isolation of civilian high-level and transuranic nuclear wastes, including spent fuel elements, for which the Federal government is reponsible. The principal programmatic emphasis is on disposal in mined geologic repositories. Explorations are being conducted or planned in various parts of the country to identify potential sites for such repositories. The work is being undertaken by three separate but coordinated NWTS project elements. Under the Basalt Waste Isolation Project (BWIP), basalt formations underlying DOE's Hanford Reservation are being investigated. Granite, tuff, and shale formations at the DOE Nevada Test Site (NTS) are being similarly studied in the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI). The Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI) is investigating domed salt formations in several Gulf Coast states and bedded salt formations in Utah and Texas. Th ONWI siting studies are being expanded to include areas overlying crystalline rocks, shales, and other geohydrologic systems. The current status of these NWTS efforts, including the projected budgets for FY 1981, is summarized, and the criteria and methodology being employed in the explorations are described. The consistency of the overall effort with the recommendations presented in the Report to the President by the Interagency Review Group on Nuclear Waste Management (IRG), as well as with documents representing the national technical consensus, is discussed.

• Research Organization: Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, OH (USA). Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5201055
• Report Number(s): DOE/RL/C-14
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BASALT
BUDGETS
COORDINATED RESEARCH PROGRAMS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GRANITES
GULF COAST
HANFORD RESERVATION
IGNEOUS ROCKS
MANAGEMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEVADA TEST SITE
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PLUTONIC ROCKS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
ROCKS
SALT DEPOSITS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES
SITE SELECTION
TUFF
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
VOLCANIC ROCKS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT