Borehole and facility sealing activities for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Technical Report · Mon Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:5491116

Hunter, T O

The design of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) proposed for a site in southeastern New Mexico, includes a working level at 2150 feet with four shafts to the surface. About 70 holes have been drilled for site and mineral exploration in the 19,000 acre area considered. Of these, however, only eight penetrate below the repository level and only four penetrate into underlying aquifers and these are greater than one mile from the underground workings. A development program is in progress at Sandia National Laboratories to provide adequate seals for these penetrations. Performance assessments have indicated that effective permeabilities as high as ten darcies do not result in doses to maximally exposed individuals greater than 0.01 percent of natural background. Materials, emphasizing cementitious grouts, have been developed to match the WIPP lithologies. These grouts have been evaluated in the laboratory, both alone and in contact with rock specimens, and in field tests. Results indicate that effective permeabilities of plugs measured in field tests (about 50 microdarcies), while still small, can be 100 times greater than the basic grout and ten times greater than observed in samples with the same rocks in the laboratory. Two major field tests, ERDA-10 and the Bell Canyon Test, have been performed and a test series is planned which includes removal of an existing plug emplaced in 1976, a 26-inch-diameter hole plugged but with a central tubing for diagnosing seal performance, and numerous tests in the experimental facility within the WIPP.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5491116
• Report Number(s): SAND-81-2034; ON: DE82011993
• 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
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360603 -- Materials-- Properties
BOREHOLES
CAVITIES
CLOSURES
FEDERAL REGION VI
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GROUTING
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NEW MEXICO
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PERMEABILITY
PILOT PLANTS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
SALT DEPOSITS
SEALING MATERIALS
SEALS
TESTING
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
USA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT