Status report on risk assessment for nuclear waste disposal. Interim report

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5431822· OSTI ID:5431822

Koplik, C. M.; Oston, S. G.; Bartlett, J. W.; Kaplan, M. F.

This document reports the results of a comparative analysis and evaluation of reported studies on long-term safety for geologic disposal of nuclear wastes. The scope of work included consideration of uncertainty issues and their impact on results; assessment of the effects of design, siting and operational strategy alternatives on safety levels; and assessment of the adequacy of scope of the available results. Results obtained by the studies reviewed are reconciled and analyzed by normalizing the results to a common basis of repository contents at closure and environmental scenario conditions. The normalization greatly reduces the range of results and produces two classes of risk predictions: conservative (extreme) case studies for which individual doses are about 1% of background, and less conservative, more realistic studies for which doses are about a thousand times lower than those for the conservative studies. The scope of work also includes a comparative analysis of safety levels for disposal of spent fuel and vitrified high-level waste. The inherently higher risk levels associated with spent fuel disposal are demonstrated. The report concludes with a discussion of significant resolved and unresolved safety issues. It also discusses future work needed.

• Research Organization: Analytic Sciences Corp., Reading, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5431822
• Report Number(s): EPRI-NP-1197
• 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
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EVALUATION
FUEL ELEMENTS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RISK ASSESSMENT
SAFETY
SOLID WASTES
SPENT FUEL ELEMENTS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES