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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Expert judgement on inadvertent human intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5789311· OSTI ID:5789311
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Hawaii Univ., Hilo, HI (United States)
  2. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  3. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Four expert-judgment teams have developed analyses delineating possible future societies in the next 10,000 years in the vicinity of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Expert-judgment analysis was used to address the question of future societies because neither experimentation, observation, nor modeling can resolve such uncertainties. Each of the four, four-member teams, comprised of individuals with expertise in the physical, social, or political sciences, developed detailed qualitative assessments of possible future societies. These assessments include detailed discussions of the underlying physical and societal factors that would influence society and the likely modes of human-intrusion at the WIPP, as well as the probabilities of intrusion. Technological development, population growth, economic development, conservation of information, persistence of government control, and mitigation of danger from nuclear waste were the factors the teams believed to be most important. Likely modes of human-intrusion were categorized as excavation, disposal/storage, tunneling, drilling, and offsite activities. Each team also developed quantitative assessments by providing probabilities of various alternative futures, of inadvertent human intrusion, and in some cases, of particular modes of intrusion. The information created throughout this study will be used in conjunction with other types of information, including experimental data, calculations from physical principles and computer models, and perhaps other judgments, as input to performance assessment.'' The more qualitative results of this study will be used as input to another expert panel considering markers to deter inadvertent human intrusion at the WIPP.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
5789311
Report Number(s):
SAND-90-3063; ON: DE92009566
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English