A preliminary performance assessment for near-surface land disposal of low-level radioactive wastes
This paper discusses a preliminary performance assessment of facilities for near-surface land disposal of low-level radioactive wastes. The analysis assumes environmental conditions representative of the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). However, the assessment is not intended to provide realistic predictions of the performance of currently operating disposal facilities on the ORR or facilities that will be developed in the future, because the analysis is largely generic and involves many presumably conservative assumptions that often are used in the absence of data for specific sites and facilities and validated models of system performance. Rather, the assessment is intended primarily as a screening tool in planning for new disposal facilities on the ORR and in identifying important radionuclides for which a more realistic analysis is needed. Two types of waste disposal facilities are assumed: shallow trenches or above-grade tumuli. However, no credit is taken in the analysis for the waste-isolation capabilities of engineered disposal facilities and waste forms following loss of active institutional control. The analysis for the two types of facilities differs only in the model assumed for transport of radionuclides by water pathways. For trench disposal, radionuclides are transported to an underlying aquifer by infiltrating precipitation; for tumulus disposal, radionuclides are transported to nearby surface water by overland runoff.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 5784370
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-890854-9; ON: DE89016255
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 11. annual DOE low level waste management conference, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 22-24 Aug 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
GROUND DISPOSAL
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
EVALUATION
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
MASS TRANSFER
OAK RIDGE RESERVATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
RUNOFF
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
TESTING
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
053000 - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects