Nuclear waste repository in basalt: preconceptual design guidelines

Technical Report · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5748178· OSTI ID:5748178

The development of the basalt waste isolation program parallels the growing need for permanent, environmentally safe, and secure means to store nuclear wastes. The repository will be located within the Columbia Plateau basalt formations where these ends can be met and radiological waste can be stored. These wastes will be stored such that the wastes may be retrieved from storage for a period after placement. After the retrieval period, the storage locations will be prepared for terminal storage. The terminal storage requirements will include decommissioning provisions. The facility boundaries will encompass no more than several square miles of land which will be above a subsurface area where the geologic makeup is primarily deep basaltic rock. The repository will receive, from an encapsulation site(s), nuclear waste in the form of canisters (not more than 18.5 feet x 16 inches in diameter) and containers (55-gallon drums). Canisters will contain spent fuel (after an interim 5-year storage period), solidified high-level wastes (HLW), or intermediate-level wastes (ILW). The containers (drums) will package the low-level transuranic wastes (LL-TRU). The storage capacity of the repository will be expanded in a time-phased program which will require that subsurface development (repository expansion) be conducted concurrently with waste storage operations. The repository will be designed to store the nuclear waste generated within the predictable future and to allow for reasonable expansion. The development and assurance of safe waste isolation is of paramount importance. All activities will be dedicated to the protection of public health and the environment. The repository will be licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Extensive efforts will be made to assure selection of a suitable site which will provide adequate isolation.

• Research Organization: Rockwell International Corp., Richland, WA (United States). Rockwell Hanford Operations
• DOE Contract Number: EY-77-C-06-1030
• OSTI ID: 5748178
• Report Number(s): RHO-BWI-CD-2(Rev.1); TRN: 80-000660
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
DESIGN
BASALT
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
IGNEOUS ROCKS
MANAGEMENT
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
ROCKS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage