Yucca Mountain: A potential trade-off in radiological hazards
- Nuclear Waste Project Office, Carson City, NV (United States)
Simple and preliminary calculations show that the excess emanation of radon and radon daughter products resulting from the heating of the rock could produce effective dose equivalent rates comparable to or greater than those of background radiation over large areas surrounding the Yucca Mountain site. This important issue is not being properly addressed in the licensing and characterization strategy of the Yucca Mountain site. The excess emanation of radon and radon daughter product could be an important constraint on the aereal power density, which is a repository design parameter that is under review at the writing of this paper. The review became necessary because the DOE is considering the disposal of spent fuel in multi-purpose canisters and because the DOE has indicated the intention of storing more than 70,000 MTU of spent fuel at Yucca Mountain. Also very important, excess radon emanation could stimulate a debate that the Yucca Mountain site is a trade-off of one radiological hazard for another.
- Research Organization:
- American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY (United States); American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 60933
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940553--Vol.4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
BACKGROUND RADIATION
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY
POWER DENSITY
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADIATION HEATING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADON
ROCKS
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
Yucca Mountain Project