NTS terminal waste storage monthly technical status report

Technical Report · Wed May 31 04:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:59806

Potential areas on the periphery of Yucca Flat (Syncline Ridge, Climax Stock, and Twinridge) have been eliminated from consideration as potential candidate repository sites as a result of an NV Weapons Testing/Waste Management compatibility decision. Climax Stock is to be considered, for waste management purposes, as an experimental test facility only and not as a candidate for terminal waste storage. The withdrawal of Syncline Ridge, Climax Stock, and Twinridge has resulted in a major redirection of the FY 1978 NTS Terminal Waste Storage Program. The Program Plan is being revised to reflect the changes in the program. An interim technical letter dated May 23, 1978, was provided to NV from USGS which documented the results of the Syncline Ridge Central Block of the Eleana formation investigations and provided recommendations to suspend further investigation of the central block and to cancel the planned calibration drill hole. Sandia Overview provided a letter dated May 31, 1978, to NV documenting the site selection criteria which were applied to disqualify the Syncline Ridge Central Block from further consideration as a potential site for a geologic repository for disposal of high-level nuclear waste. Preliminary analysis of the Climax Experiment permeability test data from the third set of measurements indicates the effective permeabilities are so low as to be not measurable with existing instrumentation, that is, <20 picodarcy. The Eleana Experiment main heater was turned on May 16, 1978, after completion of remedial work to accommodate water which accumulated in the heater hole. New seismic station locations will be established for recording weapons test ground motion data at Yucca Mountain, Dome Mountain, and Calico Hills as a result of the major program redirection. A tentative exploratory drill hole location was selected at Yucca Mountain.

• Research Organization: USDOE Nevada Operations Office, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
• OSTI ID: 59806
• Report Number(s): NVO--196-3; ON: TI83016467
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
58 GEOSCIENCES
NEVADA TEST SITE
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SITE SELECTION
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
Yucca Mountain Project