Repository site data and information in bedded salt: Palo Duro Basin, Texas

Technical Report · Mon Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5646868

Tien, P; Nimick, F B; Muller, A B; Davis, P A; Guzowski, R V; Duda, L E; Hunter, R L

This report is a compilation of data from the literature on the Palo Duro Basin. The Palo Duro Basin is a structural basin, about 150 miles long and 80 miles wide, that is a part of the much larger Permian Basin. The US Department of Energy is investigating the Palo Duro Basin as a potentially suitable area for the site of a repository for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Sediments overlying the Precambrian basement range from about 5000 to about 11,000 ft in thickness and from Cambrian to Holocene in age. The strata in the Palo Duro Basin that are of primary interest to the Department of Energy are the bedded salts of the Permian San Andres Formation. The total thickness of the bedded salts is about 2000 ft. The geology of the Palo Duro Basin is well understood. A great deal of information exists on the properties of salt, although much of the available information was not collected in the Palo Duro Basin. Mineral resources are not currently being exploited from the center of the Palo Duro Basin at depth, although the possibility of exploration for and development of such resources can not be ruled out. The continued existence of salts of Permian age indicates a lack of any large amount of circulating ground water. The hydrology of the pre-Tertiary rocks, however, is currently too poorly understood to carry out detailed, site-specific hydrologic modeling with a high degree of confidence. In general, ground water flows from west to east in the Basin. There is little or no hydraulic connection between aquifers above and below the salt sequences. Potable water is pumped from the Ogallala aquifer. Most of the other aquifers yield only nonpotable water. More extensive hydrological data are needed for detailed future modeling in support of risk assessment for a possible repository for high-level waste in the Palo Duro Basin. 464 references.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5646868
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-3129; SAND-82-2223; ON: DE84004280
• 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
58 GEOSCIENCES
580100 -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
580300 -- Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics-- (-1989)
ACTINIDES
ALKALI METALS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
AMERICIUM
ANTIMONY
CARBON
CESIUM
CHEMISTRY
CREEP
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
DENSITY
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ELEMENTS
EXPANSION
FEDERAL REGION VI
FUNCTIONS
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGY
GROUND WATER
HALOGENS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROLOGY
INFORMATION
IODINE
LEAD
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
METALS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NEPTUNIUM
NONMETALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PALLADIUM
PERMEABILITY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLATINUM METALS
PLUTONIUM
POROSITY
PROTACTINIUM
RADIUM
RARE EARTHS
RESOURCES
SALT DEPOSITS
SAMARIUM
SELENIUM
SEMIMETALS
SOLUBILITY
SPECIFIC HEAT
STRATIGRAPHY
STRONTIUM
TECHNETIUM
TEXAS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY
THERMAL EXPANSION
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
THORIUM
TIN
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TRANSPLUTONIUM ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
URANIUM
USA
WATER
ZIRCONIUM