A preliminary performance assessment for near-surface land disposal of low-level radioactive wastes

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5784370

Kocher, D C; Lee, D W

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., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 5784370
• Report Number(s): CONF-890854-9; ON: DE89016255
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
053000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Environmental Aspects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVALUATION
GROUND DISPOSAL
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OAK RIDGE RESERVATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RUNOFF
TESTING
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES