Analysis of early creep closures in geomechanically connected underground rooms in salt

Conference · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5247620

Munson, D E ^[1]; Jones, R L ^[2]; DeVries, K L ^[3]

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1. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Tech. Reps., Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
3. RE/SPEC, Inc., Rapid City, SD (United States)

The waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Project is chartered to develop a technology base for the safe disposal of the radioactive Transuranic (TRU) waste forms generated by the US defense programs. The WIPP facility has been constructed in the bedded geologic salt deposits of southeastern New Mexico and is in preliminary operation in anticipation of receipt of small quantities of radioactive waste for experimental purposes. In accord with existing regulations, the requirement is to assure that any proposed repository isolates the radioactive waste from the accessible environment and mankind for a long period of time. As a part of this requirement, the creep closure of the salt and waste encapsulation must be predicted far into the future. This necessitates significant developments in the predictive technology of the structural response of underground excavations in salt. To provide a database for the validation of the predictive technology, a series of large scale in situ experiments were fielded at the WIPP under the auspices of the Thermal/Structural Interactions (TSI) Program. One of these experiments was a three room mine-by test. In this paper, we present the results of the early time (unheated) response of this test, showing the influence of adjacent excavations on each other and of multiple rooms on the closure rates. Also, the in situ results are compared with analyses making use of the most recent numerical predictive capability developed for describing the structural response of salt. 7 refs, 6 figs.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5247620
• Report Number(s): SAND-90-2081; CONF-910728-5; ON: DE91016057
• Resource Relation: Conference: 32. US symposium on rock mechanics, Norman, OK (United States), 10-12 Jul 1991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
SALT DEPOSITS
CREEP
WIPP
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
EXCAVATION
MINING
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
TESTING
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PILOT PLANTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage